Out Of Character
by Halno
Summary: Life was a really strange thing, First you jumped off of a bridge, then you found yourself inside a cruel death game some time later, I still don't know how it all started, really, but I guess it has something to do with a transfer to a different school and the delayed release date of previously mentioned game, oh, and this one Black-Haired boy. [Kirito/Sinon]
1. Introduction

_**Disclaimer: I do not own Sword Art Online**_

 _ **-/-**_

The World, yes, the world as a whole, it was so strange, wasn't it? so full of limitations and wrongs, sorrow and sadness, it was a pitiful thing, Yet here and there people seemed not to care and just keep living on like nothing was going on around them, so gray, so dull; How I wished I could be just like all of these distant people, living away life, withering with no worries or emotions.

I was slightly propped in my windowsill, watching down below as the world kept moving slowly, such menial things seemed to lose their meaning when you really tried to observe them, like repeating a word over and over, you start to decompose it, and, before your eyes, it just doesn't make any sense anymore.

The clock marked 6:53, I decided to pick up my backpack, as I took my glasses from my bedside table, calmly putting them on, not that I needed them, my eyesight was better than average; I decided to leave just then, Nobody would want to be late for their first day.

As I made way out of my small house, locking it as I went, I decided to cheer up a bit, maybe this would be a new beginning, maybe this time things wouldn't turn so bad, hey, it was a new city, a new school, who knew, I could only hope things didn't turn bad; After all, I just wanted some calm.

The walk was bland, boring, I walked there almost as if on autopilot, when I reached the large school entrance, barely could I remembered the path I took to reach this place, as it just vanished my mind, It seemed as I had arrived somewhat early, as the school didn't seem as full as it should, I looked up, the imposing, tall structure of the building, and what it meant to me, it was all rather intimidating. I decided to make my path around, trying to find my bearings, I was supposed to be in room B-4 if I remembered correctly, and, once the alarm signaling the start of first period rang, I made my way in, going to the further back of the classroom, in a corner hidden from view.

I just sat there for the next few minutes, as the classroom slowly filled in, after a while, the teacher entered the room, he sat down and started greeting everyone and hoping for a good new year of studies, he started talking about a few more things, but I could hardly pay attention, and after a while, The corner of my mind hears him asking for the new transfer student.

I stood up, giving a small, fake smile, before I started speaking; "My name is Asada Shino, I'm new here" I felt the eyes of the other students all focus on me, and I just wished I could disappear to a dark and comfy place "I hope we can be friends" I said, not really meaning it, sitting down after finishing my sentence, The teacher just gave a small smile before he continued on with his lectures, and I just spaced away.

Before I could notice it, the entire day had already passed, as the chimes sang the end of the last period, once again, I found myself in front of the school, nobody greeted me as they went, there were no insults like there used to be, I found myself giving a small smirk, they were all ignoring me, I didn't exist.

This was just what I wanted.

But how was I wrong.

 _ **-/-**_

 _ **Yes, I know it's rather short, It's a Introduction, Please leave a review if you enjoyed and if you have any suggestions.**_


	2. Leap of Faith

_**Disclaimer: I do not own Sword Art Online**_

 _ **-/-**_

I Found myself staring at the white ceiling for the umpteenth time; There was nothing Is could distract myself with, I just stood there, rolling in my bed, uncomfortably, as my bloodshot eyes stung and the tear streaks marked my face pitifully; How wrong was I, Indeed.

As it turned out, one of my new classmates was the cousin of one of my bullies, it took barely a week before it all started again, the rumors, the whispers, the shoves, the glares; I hated all of it so much.

I could only hug my knees as I let out another low whimper, It was pitiful, really. and I could only blame myself for all of it; I glanced at my alarm clock, as I forced myself up, it was already 7:04, I would be running late.

I dusted my uniform, I had barely slept, I couldn't even get myself to change, I was just so tired of it, all of it; I found myself thinking back on the past again, as a cold shiver went up my spine, I just slapped my own face to get out of it, I threw my backpack on and left my house in a hurried pace so as not to be late; But my efforts were in vain, as I heard the alarm ringing in the distance, I decided to throw myself in a jog, I reached the front doors a few moments before they were closed; I walked up the stairs to my classroom, and hesitantly knocked in the door, the teacher allowed me to walk in, scolding me for my lateness, and as I walked to my table I could hear their whispers.

 _"look at her, she's late again, what a slob"_

 _"Look at how she's disheveled"_

 _"I bet she was stabbing someone"_

 _"Yeah, look at her eyes, she's definitely a murderer"_

I Tried to ignore them, and just make my way to my seat, but it was so hard, I just wanted to yell and scream and run away from all of this, but I had to stay calm.

Once again, I tried to space out to my own little world, but I still could feel the looks, the snickers, the little murmurs... I just wanted to begone.

After a few hours I finally could go back home, I was just so downtrodden, I picked up my bag lazily and walked out of the front door. walking without a care, I was once again in autopilot, making my way back home as I gazed down at my feet, before I bumped in someone, I made an uncharacteristic 'oof' sound from the sudden impact, and before I could look up and apologize, I was shoved down to the ground, as my back hit the floor painfully.

I opened my eyes to see four teenagers smirking madly at me.

"Look at what we have here, our very own little murderer!" said the first one, chuckling lowly

"Yeah, I bet she was off to shoot someone else too" said another one

A third one gripped the cloth covering my shoulders and yanked me up suddenly, grinning lecherously at me, I felt my heart clutching painfully, dread and fear setting on my features.

"Say what, Asada-chan, you let us have some fun with you and we won't hurt you" he laughed in my face, brushing at my cheeks with his hand, my heart skipping a beat, I tried to free myself, shaking myself away from my aggressors, I lift up my left hand and smacked him right in the face, He flinched, but did not let me go, I kept trying to pull away, but the fourth one, in the back of the group, whispered something to the others, as the chuckled away, before he moved in front of me.

"Watch this"

And then he left his index finger at me, making a mock expression of a gun, it wasn't really anything too extreme, Except for me.

My body stopped moving, My mind stopped thinking, My lungs stopped breathing, panic slowly filling my soul as color slowly left my skin.

"Bang"

And that was all it took for the dam to break, I couldn't see, I couldn't hear, I could only scream as terror overflowed from me, but I knew that I had to get out of there, as fast as possible, I yanked myself off, leaving my backpack on the floor, as I got out in a sprint, I heard them howl darkly at me as they chased me madly, There was a loud yelp, and I felt their attention shift to something else, someone else was yelling, but I kept running.

It had been a while now, I guessed I was already far enough; the panic inside me subsided, giving away to exhaustion, I gasped for breath as I finally looked around, not recognizing my surroundings, after all, I was new to the city; I reached for my backpack, but soon remembered I dropped it way back, and the sudden realization that I was lost, without my documents or cellphone hit me, and once again I felt like panicking; But I tried to cover it ' _Hang on in there, Shino_ ' I thought to myself ' _You can do it_ '; I turned to the direction I came from, I should find my way home soon, I would be safe there, It was my little sanctuary.

However, as I walked off, it proved to be futile, as each minute that passed, I was more and more lost, I came to be distracted by a pair of songbirds that make incredible acrobatic feats in midair, I was mesmerized by them, I kept slowly following them, out of my mind, They were just so beautiful, They were free, without a care in the world, they could only spring their wings out and fly away into the skies.

How I wished I had wings, How I wished I could fly away from everything, all the sadness, all the glares, all the darkness, I wished I could fly high, above the clouds, soaring in the skies, I wished I could be free.

I felt wetness in my cheeks - what was that? Was I crying? How shameful, I couldn't even hold my emotions in, I was just so weak, I Kept following the pair of songbirds, and they slowly led me to a bridge, connecting two sections of land with each other, a huge drop below it, leading to a ravenous river, strong currents carrying anything away, The songbirds then whirled off into the distance, they stopped to look at me, almost as if they were calling for me.

Yes, they were calling to me, They were inviting me to the skies, I mindlessly climbed over the railing that separated the bridge from a catwalk, I stood uneasily over the catwalk, as it unsteadily shook beneath me, I looked down to the river, and then ahead to the distance, as I saw the birds flying away joyously, I hesitated for a moment, before a small voice called out to me.

' _You can do it_ ' It told me ' _I know you can do it, all you need to do is open your wings and... fly_ '

And so I did, extending my arms to my sides, I closed my teary eyes, before I took another tiny step ahead, and another one, and another small one, and with each one, I could feel the menacing looks, the whispers, the pain, the sorrow, being slowly washed away, on the fourth step, I could feel the edge of the catwalk below my feet, only one more step, and I could fly away; I put all of my willpower, all of my strength, all of it in this small step, but before I could do so, I heard one of the voices from before, it was the one I heard as I ran away.

"Wait! No! Don't jump!"

Startled, I spun around, but as I did, it was already too late, I could feel the force of gravity affecting me full force as it dragged me down.

And so I slipped into the abyss.

 _ **-/-**_

 _ **Please leave a review if you liked.**_

 _ **If you have any suggestions regarding the title, please PM me, it's still bugging me.**_


	3. A Helping Hand

_**Disclaimer: I do not own Sword Art Online**_

 _ **-/-**_

I found myself yelling, As the world slowed down, My life flashed before my eyes - not that it was anything impressive, my father had died when I was very young, and my mother was terrorized of me when I shot that man to death, Ever since that day my life was full of loneliness and darkness, Then the cold realization that I didn't have wings, that I couldn't fly, That I would be dead in a few moments crept up my spine, making my heart skip a beat, That feeling of security, of safety, of freedom... was all a ruse; I felt my glasses slip away from my face, falling down into the abyss.

And then I found salvation - in form of a hand, as it quickly reached for me, grabbing onto my wrist with a death grip, I felt myself suddenly stopping, the downwards acceleration all but gone, and then I was being pulled back up, the figure held onto me and rolled back to safety, Me held tightly in his arms; it was then that I gazed down to see my glasses being torn to shreds by the current and the stones

First, There was the worry, "A-Are you okay?! Are you hurt?!" He blabbered quickly, checking me for any injuries, and then, there was the scolding "What do you think you were doing!? You could have died!" and then, there was the pity " ...L-Look, Life... can't be that bad, I'm sure we can work something out-

"Why?" I heard myself saying, it was out of the blue, I didn't need to hear his words of pitying, I didn't need any charity.

"...What?" He replied to me, confused

"Why did you save me?" I whispered quietly

He was entirely speechless, No words or sound came from him, I could feel as he stared at me, it felt different, it wasn't the same dark stare as the others, it was confused, and worried.

"Why did you save me!?" I yelled at his face, looking up at his face, but I couldn't make any details out, as tears freely streamed out of my eyes, blurring my vision.

He just stood there quietly, for a few moments he watched me cry, before I heard his silent reply "I don't know"

 _ **-/-**_

My day was being rather uneventful, First through Sixth period went away in a hurry, To me, I could hardly learn anything new from these classes, it was either something I already knew, or something that I didn't necessarily need to know, School was more of a bore to me than anything else, They had always told me I was one step ahead of most.

Despite seeming aloof and ignoring everything for most of the time, I couldn't help myself but to hear what others were blabbering about, There seemed there was that rumor of a transfer student that had murdered a man in cold blood, I could hardly believed in it, but something in my mind just drew myself to that, So I asked who was it, and there was the name, Asada Shino, She was one year younger than me, and had moved earlier this year, just before the semester started.

A few days earlier, I had noticed her around the canteen area, she always sat by herself in a corner, and it seemed like others harassed or insulted her, snickering at her back. She looked so lonely, her face was pale and she looked so weak, There was such a strong urge to go there and punch a hole through their faces- but I controlled myself.

But today something was off, there was just that churning and turning inside my gut, so once the sixth period was over, I decided to watch her from afar, maybe learn something about her.

She strode off almost as if she was lifeless, she looked so sad, I followed her from a long distance, but I don't think she would notice even if I was just behind her.

After a while, I saw she bumping in a boy a bit older than me, She tried to apologize, but as soon as she did, she was shoved to the ground by the boy, and soon his company was around her, What I heard next made my boil, and I sprinted towards the commotion.

 _'Say what, Asada-chan, you let us have some fun with you and we won't hurt you'_

I saw them bully the girl, it was horrible, how could someone even treat anybody else like that, it was disgusting, if I had been a bit closer I could have protected her immediately, it was me to blame; And then I saw them imitating a mock finger-gun, and once he said 'bang', as if firing it, the girl had let out a blood-churning scream and ran for her life, leaving her belongings behind, and soon after, they also started running after her, I decided to intervene just then and I lashed out at the leader of the group, punching him square in the face, he let out a loud yelp, as he fell back to the ground disorientated, the rest of the group stared at me with death in their eyes, and then they started running after me instead. I decided to lure them away, maybe buy the girl a bit of time; I ran off in a alleyway, and soon noticed that I was cornered.

Needless to say, I got a good beating, all of my body hurt, and I couldn't see right out of my left eye. but they didn't leave unscathed either, I wondered if any of them would ever cross my path any time soon.

I made my way back and found her backpack sprawled in the ground, I decided it would be best if I returned it to her, so I picked it up and went the way she had ran off to, hopefully I could find her.

It had been almost two hours, My aunt would be getting really worried at me soon if I didn't hurry, I asked anyone if they had seen the girl, and followed on my path, following any leads I could get, and then, as if a miracle, I saw a few songbirds dancing, and her in the corner of my eye, I looked straight at her, as she starting crossing a bridge.

"Where is she going?" I asked myself, and then I saw her climb over the railing

"Oh no" I said to myself, i was already sprinting towards her, once she took the first step out, my blood was already freezing

"Oh no oh no oh no please no!" I got closer by the second, my feet moved below me unquestioningly, as if my bruised muscles noticed that this was the most critical of moments and i could not ever give up right now.

I was almost reaching her, and she was almost stepping out of the catwalk, I had to save her, so I yelled to her, and hoped she could listen

"Wait! No! Don't Jump!"

It worked to catch her atention, but just as she tried to turn to me, she slipped from the edge of the catwalk, My heart almost stopped then, So i just leaped forwards and reached for her, time was slowing down so quick, my heartbeat was getting faster by the second, i could feel my nerves pulling back angrily, and, just in the last moment, as i lunged down, below the railings and on top of the catwalk, i grabbed her hand, and pulled, as strong as i could, i could never let anyone die in front of me, not if i could stop it.

She was lighter than what i had imagined, and it didn't take much effort to pull her back up, once i got her above the catwalk again, i hugged her body in a death hold and rolled out to safety, and then i noticed why she was so light, i could feel her bony and sicklish thin body, that just made me worry even more, who was taking care of her? Who would let her get to such a state?

Still holding her form close to me, worry started bubbling inside, I immediatelly started to see if i had injured her with the sudden pull, and then voiced my worries, frantically; "A-Are you okay?! Are you hurt?!" i stammered out, before i got a bit angry, who would just throw their life away like that? "What do you think you were doing!? You could have died!" i blabbered out before i held myself, she was about to kill herself, and I was scolding her, what kind of idiot I am? "...L-Look, Life... can't be that bad, I'm sure we can work something out-" I heard her whisper something, it was very low, and I couldn't hear it, she was looking down to the ground, tears threatening to leave her eyes

"...What?" I voiced quietly.

"Why did you save me?" She whispered, quietly; Those words left me speechless, why did I save her? why wouldn't I save her? What was it that made me so attracted to her in the last few days? I couldn't find my answers, I could only look at her as I mused confusedly.

"Why did you save me!?" she yelled, looking me in the eyes, as tears streamed down her face, I was so confused, I didn't know how to reply, I didn't know. Why would she even ask such a question? Why would someone _not_ save her?

"I don't know" I heard myself answering. "But I wouldn't - no, I can't, I'll never let someone, anyone get hurt in front of me"

She just stood there, Quietly, Crying for a few moments, before she talked again, she seemed disappointed.

"Haven't you heard the rumors?" She said quietly.

"Yes" I replied quickly, just as I saw her flinch some, before I could punch myself for being so insensitive, I decided to be smooth and continue my sentence "And I don't care"

She looked up to me, brushing her tears aside, she let out a small 'huh?' sound, as she looked at my face, mesmerized and confused.

"I don't care about what others say about you" I said once again "Honestly, how could such a pretty girl be a murderer, anyways?" Here I went again, trying to cheer up, before what I said registered in my mind ' _oh no, she's going to think I'm hitting on her, stupid! stupid, stupid, stup-'_

"Thank you" I heard her say quietly, as she moved closer to me, she wrapped her arms around me, and I did the same, rubbing her back, trying to console her "Thank you" She said again, as I could feel the cold wet feeling of her tears touching my shoulder.

After a few moments of silence, I lifted myself from the ground, extending a hand that she wordlessly accepted, as I helped her up, "Hey, let's go, I'll walk you home"

 _ **-/-**_

 _ **And that's a wrap up for today, As you can see, this is also a first-person-narratory training, don't worry, once the game starts, there'll be mostly third-person narration.**_

 _ **Also, please leave reviews, it helps me with writing.**_


	4. Of Dreams and Nightmares

_**Disclaimer: I do not own Sword Art Online**_

 _ **-/-**_

When I woke up I felt a strange sensation of warmness, I had a strange, but wonderful dream this time, but no nightmares. That was good enough for me, and I fondly held the memory of my dreams in my mind.

' _Honestly, How could such a pretty girl be a murderer, anyways?'_

That was wonderful to hear, even though I knew that I would never hear these worlds for real. I didn't find myself attractive in the least, I was small and almost sicklish thin; but still, to think that someone, someday might accept me...

No, that would never happen, I realized, I would be shunned forever; I decided to move my eyes to my alarm clock, seeing that I would be running late again if I stayed in bed for too long, I stood up and looked around, finding a neatly folded uniform in my small table

' _Strange, I don't remember doing the laundry'_

It seemed as I just dropped fast asleep once more, as I found myself in the same uniform I was using yesterday, quickly undressing and putting on the clean uniform, putting away the dirty one in a basket. I then looked around for my glasses on my bedside table, but i couldn't find them there. With a strange pang of surprise, I looked inside my drawers, under my bed, in my mattress, even inside my small fridge, but i couldn't find them anywhere, a small thorn of panic started prickling at my heart, i couldn't go anywhere without my glasses, they were the things that kept me safe, without my glasses i was vulnerable, weak... but these thoughts were soon stopped as i heard knocking.

I was surprised, nobody apart from the landlord came to visit me, and when he did it was a short visit in the beggining of each month to collect the rent and ask me if i was liking the place, but we were in the middle of the month.

I carefully opened my door, chain still in place, as i looked around and saw a boy dressed in an uniform and black, unkempt hair. ' _It's the boy i saw in my dream_ '; I closed the door again and unchained it, before walking out.

"Hey, uhm, Hi there, I came to walk you to school, but you were running a bit late so I..." He trailed off. And I looked at him, confused "I don't think we got properly introduced yesterday, My name's Kirigaya Kazuto, but you can call me just Kazuto" he held out a hand to me, setting his bag in the ground.

My heart fluttered wildly, my eyes widened ever so slightly ' _So that wasn't a dream'_ I gingerly held my hand out, and shook his, before introducing myself, too "I'm Asada Shino" I said quietly, a small smile forming in my lips, a genuine one. I picked up my backpack and made my way out, but found him looking at me questioningly, I tilted my head to him.

"Y-your glasses..." he muttered, and I shook my head.

"Don't worry, I don't really need them" I said smiling.

We both picked up our backpacks and made our way to the school, side by side, we went quietly this time, but it wasn't the same bland walk as the other times, as I walked with him I felt I wasn't in the same 'autopilot' I was before, it felt more natural.

Once we reached the school, we parted ways, as we both went to our respective classrooms; And like the previous days, I could only feel myself gazing out, as I felt the glares and the whispers around me; Thankfully, time passed quickly, uninterrupted, until the end of the third period, when we were given lunchtime.

I walked out of my classroom headed for the far-out table of the canteen, as always, but before I could reach it, I saw someone waving to me, I looked up, and it was Kazuto, smiling to me.

We walked together to the same place I was headed too, and we both sat down. "You didn't bring lunch with you?" he asked to me, and I nodded negative, I forgot to make anything, as I remembered I was searching for my glasses frantically at the time.

"There, we can share mine" he said, as he handed out a sandwich to me.

"Thank you, but you don't have to" I said, as I raised my hands in front of me.

"Don't worry, I've got more" He said, smiling to me "I Insist" he continued, and I gingerly picked up the sandwich, as he unpacked another one for himself, giving it a hearty bite, as he nodded to me. I nibbled the corner of the sandwich, and found it incredibly delicious, it had been awhile since I tasted anything with any actual flavor

"Did you make these?" I asked him quietly, but he shook his head.

"Actually, no" he explained "My cou-... sister made these for me"

I noticed his slip of the tongue, but decided to ignore it, instead slowly nibbling away at it, feeling my hunger slowly fading away; After a few minutes I was done with it, and realized he was looking at me, as he had already finished his for some time.

We just stood there, idly chatting, enjoying each other's company. it felt so strange, but I liked the company, However we were interrupted as a girl made her way to our table.

"Ne... Kazuto-kun, you know who she is, right?" She murmured to him, and I felt my stomach drop

"Yes, She's Shino, my friend" He replied, not taking his eyes off from me "We were just talking"

"B-But... she's the girl who murdered that man! She's a killer!" She talked back to him hurriedly, in a higher tone, I could feel the other people around us starting to look, and I felt oppressed by the dark aura.

"I honestly don't think she's a murderer, now if you're done, I'd like to enjoy the rest of my lunch break with her, so Leave."

"But Kazuto-kun-" She tried to reply, but he stood up quickly, glaring at the girl.

"I told you to leave."

The girl was unnerved, but quickly snorted and turned away "When she stabs your back, don't think I'm going to help you!" and so she made her way out; He then proceeded to glare back at everyone, and soon the entire canteen returned to their own business, I couldn't feel the glares any longer.

"Look, Kirigaya-san-"

"You can call me just Kazuto"

"R-Right, Kazuto-san, I know you want to help, But if you stay close to me, People are going to start thinking bad of you..."

"I don't care of what they think of me" He said resolutely, Looking in my eyes "If they can't see you for who you really are, then their opinions don't really matter"

"B-but your friends-"

"If they really are my friends, then they would respect my own friends"

I looked back at him, he was smiling to me, he was so certain, and I felt so happy in that moment, before he noticed what he said and got flustered.

"T-that's if you don't mind me being your friend-"

"No, it's okay, actually, I would love that" I said to him. That moment felt special to me, he wanted to hear me out, protect me, he would be my first friend in a long time.

 _ **-/-**_

Soon, I found that almost another month had passed, and each day, I found out that I felt a little bit happier. Every day, he was there, in front of my door to walk me to school, he would bring me lunch, everyday, and he would walk me home. Every time I had a nightmare, I'd call him, and he'd come to visit me, and he would just hang around for a while, until I felt better.

And then I noticed that I was waking up everyday just so I could see him, and I couldn't deny that I was falling for him, He was becoming the beacon of light that made me carry on.

I was glad.

When I went to bed, I wanted a dreamless night of sleep, but it seems as my mind had other plans, as I soon found myself in a very familiar place; Which looked vaguely as a post office; A pistol formed in my hands, and I found myself shooting ahead, into _something_ , and then that figure slowly approached me, and I kept shooting, trying to keep it away, as it lunged at me, pinning me below it, and then I looked in its face, and found my own face looking back at me, a bullet hole straight through the forehead.

' _Murderer_ '

I woke up in a cold sweat, tears trailing my cheeks, breathing out heavily.

I moved my hands to my phone, dialing for a number I had called many times recently, it didn't take ten seconds before I was picked up, and the cheerful but sleepy voice of Kazuto greeted me.

"K-Kazuto-kun... C-Could you come over? I had another nightmare." I heard him quickly replying yes, as the background sounds indicated he was rushing something, and then I ended the call, my eyes absentmindedly moving to the alarm clock, It was 23:40 already, I was happy knowing he'd come, even if it was so late.

I sat there, in the dark, hugging my knees for a few minutes, as time whizzed by, and then I heard knocking at my door, I got up, and walked towards the door, and as I opened it I saw Kazuto standing there, with his always present smile, I wordlessly let him in, he dropped his backpack by the door, and both of us sat down in my bed; He rubbed my back, muttering words of consolation on my ear, and I felt better with just that, I loved his company, he was the first to accept me, he was the only to accept me.

Hours passed by as the world slowly sunk into slumber, but us, as he stood there with me, and I silently accepted the warm feeling.

He looked up to my alarm clock and made an annoyed sound.

"Shino-chan, if you're feeling better, I think I should head home" He said, lifting up, but before he could move any further I held his arm, he replied with a small 'huh?' sound.

"Kazuto-kun... Do you think you could... S-Stay the night?" I said mindlessly, and instantly berated myself for that; he seemed pensative for a moment, but then sat down beside me again and nodded. "Thank you" I muttered, it was a strange request, I scolded myself, but I was happy for it.

I then let out a long yawn, and he mimicked me a second later, he gave out a small laugh and I giggled a bit. And then I noticed how small my bed was.

"N-Ne, Kirito-kun, I can sleep on the floor, and you can keep the bed" I said, but then he shook his head.

"I would never bother your sleep, and I don't really mind sleeping on the floor" He said, but I still felt a pang of remorse.

"W-Well... We could... Share the bed..." Again, I scolded myself, my bed was small, we'd have to be... cuddled... to each other... just the thought made my heart flutter a bit, and I felt my face warming up; I looked up to him, and saw he also had a small blush on his face, but he accepted nevertheless.

And so both of us made ourselves comfortable in my small bed, as we shared a single blanket, I was slightly embarrassed, a bit warm, and I could feel the same coming from him; We didn't snuggle close as the depths of my mind wanted so much to, instead trying to stay as far apart as we could before one of us fell from the bed.

After a while, Both of us just closed our eyes, This was a strange scenario, and I was so embarrassed, I could barely think straight.

It had been years since I slept so well.

 _ **-/-**_

 _ **And that's another wrap, A itsy bitsy fluff, if you find any grammatical errors, please PM me or send a review, as I have no beta-reader and Word 2007 is being a *****; Still, Praise master Thesaurus.**_


	5. A Wonderful Friend

_**Disclaimer: I do not own Sword Art Online**_

 _ **-/-**_

I had a wonderful dream.

Those were so rare, I was rather sad when I had to wake up, but it seemed as the dream lived on, because when I opened my eyes, I was still in his arms, as we both held each other close together, I smiled brightly and snuggled closer together, taking a whiff of his scent.

He wasn't what could be called manly - he had a cute face, if I could say anything, and looked like a girl - but the way he treated me, and the way I felt around him, that was worth more than anything, it just made my world feel perfect; Every time I was so close to him I couldn't feel the discomfort and the hate, I even forgot my past sometimes.

But then he opened his eyes, yawning some, we looked each other in the eyes, happily, it felt all so comfortable.

And then the alarm clock rang;

And we realized this wasn't a dream;

And both of our faces lit up, becoming crimson red, flustered.

Our tangled up mess of bodies was soon undone and both of us stood up frantically, as we both couldn't look each other in the eye, both of us embarrassed out of our minds, But I didn't regret it, Not a single bit; I'd keep that little moment in my mind for eternity. ' _He actually liked it, when he thought he was dreaming'_ I thought to myself, giving a small, happy smile.

He wordlessly left my small room, as if he knew what I was about to say; we both needed to get ready. Once he left, I slipped out of my white shirt, put on my uniform and tied a comfortable pair of shoes.

I walked through the door and also saw that he was no longer in the black turtleneck shirt he was donned in when he arrived at my door the previous day; Instead also with his uniform on, as he shoved his shirt in his backpack, I rose my eyebrows a little bit at him and let out a small giggle.

"What? It's not wrong to have spares around" He replied indignantly to me, huffing.

We both were making our way out before he nagged on my arm; I looked to him, as he pulled a rectangular, small gift wrapped box from his back pocket, and handed to me, smiling brightly to me

"I almost forgot to give this to you"

I looked to him incredulously, before I unwrapped, revealing a plastic box of same size, with three bold white letters on top, signaling 'NXT', with a small button in front; I gingerly pressed the small button, as the box opened up, revealing a pair of glasses, identical to the ones I had before, I picked them from the box, and carefully placed them on.

I looked up to him, he was grinning brightly, scratching the back of his neck, before he looked worried at me, startling me, and just then I noticed the tears freely leaving my eyes.

"Are you okay? Did I do something wrong?"

I shook my head frantically, Smiling.

"I love them, Kirito-Kun"

I walked forwards, and gave him a tight hug, which he readily accepted, and hugged me back, I loved that warm feeling.

And so we walked out, and for once in a very long time, I was happy.

Very happy.

 _ **-/-**_

 _ **A Few Months later**_

It was fun to see Kazuto ranting away like this, every once in a while, he would just sit down and grumble on and on about some unfairness in his world of online gaming; Today it seemed as he was rather angry about some new innovative gaming technology that would be delayed.

"-So I was reading the news, and then big up in bold letters, in Argus' website, that they'll delay the game's beta-testing phase in almost half a year! And the final release date will be even further off" He huffed out, And I giggled a bit "Man, I could be testing Sword Art Online right about now..."

"Don't worry Kazuto-kun, the game will probably be even better after this" I said, smiling at him, he could be so dramatic with his games sometimes...

"Oh yeah" He said, looking up to me "They'll be almost tripling the amount of people that will be beta-testing the game now, so there are new spots for beta-testers now" He said excitedly "That means that you can sign up for beta-testing too!"

Kazuto had lured me into the beautiful world of online gaming, A few months prior, he'd convinced me to get a computer, but seeing as how small my studio apartment was, I couldn't get anything too big, so he helped me buy a gaming notebook with his allowances, even though I insisted he didn't have to help.

But soon I was captivated by those alternate worlds, where you could be anything you could ever wish to be, I felt a bit more free after that, and the long time I used to spend alone doing nothing other than reading a old book or two was soon occupied as me and Kazuto raced to be the best against any game we faced.

It turns out I'm great at gaming; If what Kazuto says is accurate.

So at the offer of joining him in the game he seemed to be so obsessed with ever since it was announced, I couldn't dare to deny, I smiled brightly to him and nodded; to which was replied with an equally big smile.

Hours later, we met again inside my small studio apartment, I was typing away in my notebook, while Kazuto was watching over my shoulder.

"Let's just hope that they approve you for Beta-Testing, I've already recommended you and asked some buddies to help too..."

The first thousand beta-testers were selected from a roster of over a hundred thousand individuals that submitted their applications, however, this second call for beta-testers was based more around recommendations from influential people in the game forums for Argus' games and other beta-testers, it was a fun little system, in my opinion.

Once my application was submitted, we waited patiently until it was replied, and after a couple of days, right there in my inbox, was the awaited message.

' _Dear player, We at Argus' gaming technology, would like to inform that you've been selected to join the Closed Beta Testing phase of Sword Art Online, The NerveGear will be delivered to your mailbox within 30 work days'_

 _ **-/-**_

There were only a couple of days left before they would open the Closed Beta servers so the testers could join, So me and Kazuto had decided to rest for awhile to prepare for the long-awaited game.

The NerveGears had arrived in our respective mailboxes a few days ago, So we already had plugged them on in the power supply and calibrated it, Although if I said so myself, the calibration process was... rather strange, the game made you touch and pat yourself all over, and bend and stretch in ways that made it resemble gymnastics; Thankfully, I had a flexible body, but Kazuto was once again muttering about how hard the calibration was.

I was currently drying myself after a long shower, Kazuto had invited me out for dinner with his family, So there was no way I could ever deny, Therefore I decided to take a long bath and dress myself as best as I could, I opened my eyes as I was done drying my face, and looked at myself in the tall mirror by the wall of my small bathroom.

Needless to say, I was different from what I looked like a year ago.

No longer did I have a bony and sicklish appearance, sure, I was still thin, and I was still pale, but I didn't look _sick,_ I looked just way so much healthier, I'd gained a few pounds and left my malnourished status, my skin gained some color, my eyes were brighter, my hair was smoother, I as a whole felt a whole bunch better.

I felt more alive.

After I had dried myself up and put on my underwear, I decided to put on a simple black dress I had and a pair of black flats shoes that I thought looked cute; After that I sat down at my table, idly playing with one random thing or two, I wasn't one to ever like to use make-up, so I didn't bother with that.

I stood a few minutes just idly playing with my glasses for a few minutes, and soon enough I heard knocking at my door, I hurried up, putting my glasses on, and opened the door, and there was Kazuto greeting me, I smiled at him and gave him a quick hug; Before he took a good look at me, his eyes widening slightly, scanning me up and down with his eyes, making me unnerved;

"Is there something wrong?" I said, looking at him with a confused face

"N-No!" He said hastily, waving his arms frantically in front of him, with a small blush in his face "it's just that you look... So pretty" He said, as his cheeks reddened ever so slightly

At that, I just smiled and returned a small blush of my own, Before Kazuto directed me to his mother's car, We sat in the back, as Kazuto's mother and his little sister sat up in the front.

"Hey there Asada-san, How are you?" Said Kazuto's mother, looking back at us and smiling, with a small wave

"I'm good, thank you, Kirigaya-san" I Replied quietly, as I fidgeted with my fingers.

"You can call me just Midori, dear" The woman said, before she turned back to the wheel and started the car

"Anyways, thanks for the invitation" I said, smiling at her. "You really didn't have to"

"Originally it was going to be just us, but Kazuto here insisted that we take you with us" The woman said with a small chuckle

"Ne, Kaa-chan, it wasn't like that" Kazuto said with a small blush; Scratching the back of his neck.

"Oh, C'mon nii-san" Said Suguha, Kazuto's sister, suddenly "Spill the beans"

"W-What do you mean with that?" Kazuto said, looking incredulously at Sugu.

"We both know" She said, indicating at his Mother "That you both are all lovey-dovey, so when are you going to declare your love for each other?" She said with a small smirk of victory, and at which I felt my face warm up, as both me and Kazuto started sputtering, to which both of the other women started laughing;

Both me and Kazuto faced away from each other, embarrassment in our faces, and both of us looked out into the nighttime city as it passed by, the streetlamps illuminating the way, until at one point the car stopped and Midori looked back to us

"We're here kids, come on" She said, leaving the car, and walking inside the small, but rather nice restaurant, The place was rather... White, The floor and the furniture was wooden, but everything else was a pristine white color, giving the place a clear and rather welcoming look.

As soon as we entered, Kazuto's mom called up a Waiter, which led us to our table, seating all four of us, and took our orders, We four chattered about current events, and a few minutes later, drinks and food were served.

All four of us sat and ate quietly, silently appreciating the food, And I kept thinking to myself:

Is this what having a family feels like?

Well, I did have a family, My grandparents and my mother, And I loved all of them dearly, but ever since my father died- no, ever since we _watched_ my father die, my mother never cheered up anymore, I was young back then, so for me at the time, that was just how my mother was, collected and... fragile.

We never really did do family things, and since my grandparents lived far off, we only talked to them through calls and mailing, it had been many years since I last saw them; So my childhood was mostly just that, go to school, come back home, play with my toys... and then... I killed that man.

I distanced myself from the world, I distanced myself from my mother, My world became cold and lonely, people knew my story, it was in the headlines - _Young girl kills armed robber-_ , Everyone knew it, Nobody wanted to be my friend anymore, People bullied and hurt and stole from me because of that... I even had to move to another city to try to escape from all of that... and in the end they found out about me anyways.

And then I met the most wonderful boy in the world.

It was so strange, even thinking about him made butterflies flutter in my stomach, and for a long while, that boy was the reason I woke up and went to school every day, only because I knew he would be there to protect me, to call me his friend.

The day I met him was a fond memory to me, Like every other day, I was depressed, and that particular day, I found myself lost, and almost killed myself, and then, if not for that boy, I wouldn't be here today, enjoying these precious moments.

"Hey, Shino-chan, are you alright?" The same boy I was thinking of said, rubbing my shoulder, as he looked worriedly to me, and I noticed I hadn't moved nor ate anything for a few minutes, I shook my head, smiling to him, taking his hand with mine and setting it down, as the calm and soft touch made myself blush a little.

' _Oh god_ ' I thought to myself ' _I think I'm in love_ '

"Thank you" I said, Looking up to his eyes "Kazuto-kun" I finished with a large smile on my face

 _'But I don't mind being in love with him_ ' He smiled to me, and then looked back to his food and kept on devouring it ' _Not at all_ '

After all; He made me happy.

 _ **-/-**_

 _ **Soon it won't be so much Sinon-centered, as we move to the Aincrad parts, there will be third-person narration, but for now I wanted to keep this first-person part, just to give the story some introduction and clarity to Shino's feelings.**_

 _ **Thinking back on it, I could have strapped chapters 1 to 4 as a single long one, but I think writing these smaller ones is much more satisfying, also keeps them coming faster as I don't have to scramble ideas and make them fit properly inside a chapter; As you can see, this is one of these chapters where I really don't have much content to write about and end up just throwing words and cutting the thing in pieces to make it fit along with all the time skips.**_

 _ **Also, you probably noticed that I referred to Kazuto's aunt as his mother, but since this is a first-person point of view and she does not know that fact, I guess it's pretty straightforward.**_

 _ **Also! Spell-checks on ALL of the previous chapters, So everything is updated, mistake and dumb error free.**_

 _ **On another note, There will be a significant delay until the next chapter, therefore I apologize, and thus, am delivering this chapter early**_

 _ **Oh well, this A/N is long enough already, See you next time, and leave a review if you enjoyed.**_


	6. The Beta Testers

_**Disclaimer: I do not own Sword Art Online**_

 _ **-/-**_

This was the day! I was so happy, Kazuto had already called me and we had scheduled up, in a few short moments they would be opening the beta-testing servers, I kept myself busy by anxiously staring at the clock in my counter; And finally, letting my agony finally rest, the minute ticked, and I laid down comfortably in my bed, placing the NerveGear in my head, before calmly saying the magic words

"Link Start!"

And soon I did not see my room anymore, instead seeing a kaleidoscope of colors flashing around me, before many spheres checking things like sight, hearing, taste and touch appeared around, and moved to disappear from sight.

Soon, there was a login screen, The fields were automatically filled in, The language was correctly applied, and soon I was moved to a character design screen, where I could see my own reflection, with sliders with things like height, weight, body shape, features and things of such, I didn't mind much for that, so I just swapped a few of the color sliders and pressed the 'finish' button.

Soon, I found myself being teleported away, in a flash of white, and then I saw myself, with many other players around, and others logging in, in the top left of my screen I could see a bar with my name and a health gauge, and in the top right I saw battery life and time, soon, a small pop-up appeared in the center of my vision, with a small 'tutorial' label.

' _To open the main menu, Swipe vertically with your dominant hand while not holding anything'_ And so I did, Swiping my left hand down, to which a few round spheres indicating Character, Community, Messaging, Map, and finally Settings; I poked at the 'Community' tab, which listed a few other options, and then selecting the 'Contacts' menu, and there was he, Kazuto, or rather, 'Kirito', in my list, I then selected him, and saw his location relative to mine, he was too in the plaza, and I saw a small blue crystal floating higher in the sky, I stared at it and started making my way there, and soon I saw someone signaling to me;

"There you are, _Sinon_ " he said, walking up to me, to which I could only stare at him with a rising eyebrow.

"Hey, _Kirito-_ kun, You look... _manly_ " I said, looking at him, giggling a little, no longer the his cutesy face there, instead, a much more well-shaped face, with slightly longer black hair occulting his face, his figure a bit more lean; But he still looked like a girl.

"W-What do you mean with that!?"

I giggled to myself, and looked around the vast space of the plaza of the city of beginnings.

"Well, I mean that you look like a girl in real life, and now you look like a girl _here_ " I said, teasing him just a bit more.

"And you look!- you look... ehh..."

"I look what, Kirito-kun?" I said defiantly, looking him fiercely in the eyes, daring him to come up with a comeback, he was never really good with them, but honestly, neither was I.

"Gah, you got me" he said, huffing to me and turning around, I laughed at bit at his expense, and soon he softened up again and began smiling to me once more; I looked to the pond in the center of the plaza, seeing my reflection in it, My hair, previously black, was now a light teal color, and my eyes were a similar greenish-cerulean color, overall, I looked almost the same, after all I didn't really play with the character creation sliders.

"So this is Sword Art Online" I said, looking around, taking a few test steps "It all feels so real"

"Well, that's what twelve years of development should be able to do" He said, moving around, feeling his movements, and truly, it was almost lifelike, everything was perfectly detailed, the movements were smooth and straightforward, you could feel the calm breeze blowing in your face, as the stray strands of hair flew in front of your eyes, leaves and particles were blown by the wind, the horizon led to a light blue, cloud-filled sky, and soon above was the roof, and floor, to the next level of the titanic iron castle known as Aincrad.

"So what can we do here?"

"Hmm; let me see" he said, rubbing his cheek "If I remember well, there are many classes of weapons, ranging from daggers to war hammers and even bows... although there aren't things like crossbows or composite bows... the game is level and skill-based, killing monsters awards XP and every new level you gain stat points to spend, that's pretty straightforward, although, every individual skill, like one-handed, blacksmithing, crafting, hunting, etcetera, must be leveled individually by training it... Well, it's almost like any other RPG. Except it feels like real life!" He said enthusiastically, twirling around. "Oh, and there's one more thing"

I looked up at him, with a half 'hm?' and half amused face, He always went on and on with his game-tutorial monologues. It was cute.

"Dying" He said, looking to me and crossing his arms "If you die, your character is completely cleared, and you have to start again from scratch, at level 0"

"Wow, that's harsh"

"I think it makes the game a bit more challengingly fun" He said "Makes you sure to not mess up" He said, smiling and stretching his body once again "So! let's get started up, We're here to beta-test are we not? So let's make sure we can get as far as possible before the full game release, without dying even once"

And so we went, Slowly making our way out of the slowly filling area; we walked outside of the plaza, soon finding ourselves in a town setting, with NPC's walking around the place and shopkeepers in small stalls; Soon both of us found ourselves in front of a small shop in a alleyway with a bulky NPC in front, hammering a piece of iron.

"So what will it be?" The man said, looking up to us, he was bald and had a short gray beard, before a small 'shop' pop up appeared in front of our visions; We both nodded to each other, and looked over the menu.

"Ah, so we do have some starting currency, 100 Col, I wonder what that can get us" Kazuto said, looking over the menu "It seems like all starting weapons are that price, everything else is way higher"

"Don't we already have a starting weapon?" I said, looking over to him, before I picked up the rather beat-up blade from the sheath in my waist and waved it a bit

"You don't really want to go around with that... thing, do you?" He said, looking at me with a sweat drop

"Well, it _is_ a indestructible object" I said, looking at him with a small frown.

"That's because it's a starting weapon, Shino" He finished, waving me off "And anyways, its stats are too weak" He pulled his own sword, identical to mine, and gave it a test swing "Although, I do like the feel of it" He turned away from me, facing the shop menu, and after browsing a while, the tapped at I saw a bronze shortsword appearing in his hand from thin air, he gave a few test swings and smiled at me "I guess I'll be going with one-handed swords"

I looked back to my own menu, And also looked over the many options, There was a small 'melee' tab with all kinds of related things, Knives, Cleavers, Hatchets, Axes, Battleaxes, Spears, Polearms, Swords, none of them particularly interested me, and once I scrolled past it, there was another section, smaller, but there nevertheless; Ranged.

Once I opened up the tab, I noticed a few options that were very similar to the ones in the previous section, Throwing axes, Throwing knives, Throwing picks, Javelins... And then I set my eyes on it, the outline of a Bow.

I tapped at the figure and a small information box popped up in my vision «Wooden Bow» it read, with the 100 Col standard price for it, I hesitated for a moment, before I tapped the blue 'purchase' button and the weapon materialized in my hands.

"It was nice doing business with you" The gruff weapon smith said, before he went back to hammering his iron piece.

"A Bow?" I heard Kazuto say as he walked up to me "They're the hardest weapons to use, you know that?" He said, looking at me worriedly.

"Yeah" I replied, putting a hand in my hip and looking to face him "However, They have the highest damage range of any other weapon, and their critical damage is almost overpowered"

"Well, that is if you can use it properly" he said, rubbing at the back of his neck "Anyways, let's get going, I want to have some fun!" He said cheerily, giving a stupid grin and propping his sword in his shoulder, to which I could only give a small giggle.

 _ **-/-**_

"Kirito! Watch out!" I said, As I released my grip on the arrow, as the string shone a bright red "«Piercing Shot»!" The arrow flew precise, piercing the left eye of the iron-clad giant that stood in front of us, as it let out a roar of anguish

"Thanks Sinon!" He yelled back, before he pivoted on his feet and lunged at the monster again "«Horizontal»!" And then he slashed with his blade, entirely removing the monster's left hand from his body, leaving a red stump in its place, as the hand itself popped away in a burst of red polygons.

The monster let out a mighty roar that made my ears ring, as I felt the slight debuff of the 'Dread' status affect me, We finally beat it to its last health bar.

Oh? Why are the two of us fighting a boss without any help, you ask?

Because it was the last day of beta-testing, and we wanted to do something unforgettable.

In the last month, Both me and Kazuto spent most of our free time inside the world of the closed beta of Sword Art Online, Every day we'd go further and further, We had racked our equipment up to the max levels, and went where no-one went before, We were always fighting alongside the parties dedicated to clearing the floors, And every once in a while there would be a great deal of deaths were a bunch of players would get set back to level 0 and have to start over, The floor before was just that, In fact, only me and Kazuto and a few tanks had survived the ordeal, and so many of the high-leveled players were set back to the beginning.

"To the left!" He yelled to me, and I dodged, as the bulky titan rushed towards me, swinging with his massive battleaxe, Why did it target me all of a sudden!? Monsters were always supposed to target the closest attacker!

"Sinon! Dodge!" He yelled once again, as the monster twirled around in a speed that shouldn't be possible with his size, Kazuto was already rushing madly towards me, but I couldn't dodge the sudden movement, and the monsters battleaxe hit my stomach, knocking me off as I tumbled away in Kirito's direction, stopping just before his feet.

"S-Shino!" He said, crouching to me, as I felt the dull numbness of what was supposed to replace and simulate pain hit me, making me feel deadened.

"Aw, I messed it up" I said, looking him in the eyes with a smile "I guess it's game-over for me" I saw my health bar slowly depleting, before I broke apart in a thousand red polygons, and a red 'You're Dead!' message appeared as my field of vision darkened.

Soon I felt myself waking up in the City of Beginnings, I quickly swiped up to see my inventory menu, I looked the same, but all of my levels, skills and equipment were gone, all I had was 100 Col that all starting players began with, I let out a long-drawn sigh; As I lifted myself from the ground and sat in the edge of the fountain nearby.

Soon after I saw blue polygons forming a shape from nowhere, and Kazuto formed in front of me, in the same predicament I had, He smiled to me, before he adopted a depressed look in his face and I did the same, pouting.

"We were so close" I mumbled "That was so unfair"

"Oh well, we got pretty far even, nobody had ever managed to get a boss to one health bar with anything under ten players" He said, sitting beside me "It's a shame we lost when we were almost done with it"

"Ah, So you must be famed Black Swordsman and Night's Huntress, if I recall correctly, Kirito-san and Sinon-san" A man in red robes said walking up to us from the side, his face shadowed, mentioning the nicknames both of us had been awarded as we rose within the game's ranks.

"Oh, hey there, that's us, and you are...?" Kirito said, giving a awkward smile to the cloaked man, He was probably a GM, if his stylized cloak was anything to go by, and Kazuto seemed aware of this fact, as he tensed up bit by bit.

"I'm pretty sure you already know me, After all, I'm the one who constructed this world" The man said, and then the both of us tensed up.

"K-Kayaba Akihiko!?" I said, startled, looking up to him, as I propped myself up in Kazuto's shoulder, looking over his head

"That's correct" The man said, as the shadows faded a bit, allowing us to see his face, it was identical to the one we had been used to see in magazines and in the development website. "It's a pleasure to meet you" The man said, holding out a hand to us.

"T-The pleasure is mine! T-to what do I owe this honor?" Kazuto said shakily, as he stood up and shook the man's hand, to which he could only give a slow chuckle.

"Actually, I'd like to congratulate the two of you before I end the Beta-Test" The man said, and we saw a small crowd forming, whispering things like 'It's a GM!' and 'Is that the Night's Huntress?' or 'Look! It's The Black Swordsman!'

"C-Congratulate us?" I said shyly, looking over Kazuto's shoulder.

"Yes, After all, The game is balanced to make boss fights nigh impossible with few players, making the fact that the two of you almost won a clear display of skill" The man said calmly, Had he been watching us? Nevertheless, it felt wonderful being praised by the game's lead developer "I Hope to see both of you in the game's full release. Well, Now if you excuse me, it's about time" The man said, as the shadows once again covered his face, and he swiped at his menu, soon after disappearing in thin air.

"Sinon, pinch me" Said Kazuto, looking straight into my eyes.

"W-What for?"

"I think I'm hallucinating, My idol just praised me for being a great gamer" He finished, with a glassy look in his eyes.

"Then pinch me too, Because I think I just saw the same thing" I said jokingly

"Okay!" He said, before twirling and pinching my arm.

"W-What was that for!"

"You asked for it" He said, and then looked back to me "And you can't even really feel pain" He finished, with a smirk, waving me off.

"...Oh, Right" I definitely hadn't forgotten that single important fact.

A few moments later, The plaza was filled with the all the currently logged-on Beta-Testers, as they were forcefully teleported, And large green hexagons started popping up in the sky, with the message "Announcement" written in bold white letters, Soon after, Particles started appearing in the sky, as the telltale cloaked figures appeared, floating high up, Kayaba in the middle of them, in his signature red cloak.

"Greetings, To all of you!" Said a green-clad GM "First of all, I'd like to thank all of the present Two-thousand Five-hundred players that applied, for their help in perfecting the game!"

At that, a loud cheer was heard, as the players lifted up their weapons and banged their shields

Another GM stepped forward "If no unforeseen events take place, the official release date for Sword Art Online should be within six months time"

Then the figure of Kayaba stepped forward, "Until then, We bid all of the testers farewell, and hope you join us in this marvelous world!"

There was another chorus of cheering and roaring, as weapons were risen high up in the skies, all players bidding farewell to their guilds and parties for the while, and soon after, the players started being logged off.

And soon enough, Darkness filled my eyes, and soon I found myself waking up, My eyes slowly adjusting to the darkness of my room.

One thing I knew for sure, I really wanted these six months to pass as quickly as they could, At least I had someone to spend it with.

 _ **-/-**_

 _ **And we enter Aincrad! Well, beta-testing, and it was over in one episode because I want to go on with the story, oh well, official release next chapter I suppose; Also, I apologize if this chapter looked bland, I really didn't have much to write about, And I think I changed my mind about making things 3rd person, I'll have it first person all the way.**_

 _ **Thanks for reading and please leave a review if you enjoyed.**_


	7. And so It Began

_**Disclaimer: I do not own Sword Art Online**_

 _ **-/-**_

Kazuto was very bubbly today, Since I first met up with him when he went to pick me up at home he'd been bouncing on his feet, throughout all of school time, and in the way back, he'd been happier like he'd never been before.

Oh, Wait a second, I am too.

Of course, who wouldn't be, We'd been waiting for this game for months already!

Oh, and the dreamy look on my face definitely wasn't because I was going to sleep over at his house for the game's big launch, Definitely not, It was just because of the game... Okay, Maybe it's because of him, But nobody can judge me.

"Snacks?"

"Check."

"Drinks?"

"Check."

"Futon?"

"Check."

"Internet connection?"

"Check!"

"Time is?"

"12:59"

Oh yes, just one little minute, we both laid down, Kirito on his bed, and I on a futon he'd set up for me on the floor, we both had already placed on the NerveGears and strapped them firmly, and were as comfortable as we could be.

Was it just me or did this single minute almost feel like the entire six month wait? I'm not sure, but it feels like the closer you are the harder it becomes, oh, there we go, 13:00

"Link start!" Both of us chorused, As the characteristic kaleidoscope of colors flashed in on around us, the checks being made, the login screen flashed briefly as we were connected, and soon enough, skipping the character creation screen, as I had retained the beta-testing character I had.

Soon the world was constructed around me, and the familiar surroundings of the Town of beginnings were unraveled.

I looked around, as the blue particles of players logging on obfuscated the landscape, as thousands of players appeared, crowding the large plaza, which, seemed a tad larger from what it had been before.

Soon enough, I felt a slight pressure on my shoulder, as the figure of Kirito appeared besides me, with a bright smile.

"So we're here again!" He said happily, You could almost _feel_ the excitement flowing out of him.

"Yup!" Was all I could say, as I felt the lifelike sensations of the game hit me, no other game has ever got me so intrigued by it as Sword Art Online, after all, it was the only one of its kind, However, It felt a bit different from the last time I'd played it, The feelings were somewhat more... whole?

"Hey, Kaz- Erm, 'Kirito', does this feel a bit different to you?" I said, looking up to him, He had a pensative look on his face, but shook his head.

"No, Feels pretty much the same" He replied, shrugging "Now let's make our way out, We have a long way to go!" He said cheerily, picking me by the wrist, and soon we were reaching the streets of the outer town, with our starter weapons already equipped, Kazuto with his sword, and me with my bow.

However, we both were stopped as someone called out to us.

"Hey! Hey there! Hey you two!" a guy said, He had shoulder length salmon-color hair, and a bandanna wrapped in his forehead.

"Oh, Hey there, What's up?" Kazuto replied, greeting the man with a lazy salute.

"Hey, Uhm, I'm new to the game, and it looks like the two of you have the game figured out, so I'd like to know if you could give me a hand?"

Kazuto looked over to me, and I looked back with a smile and a shrug, ' _Why not?_ '

"Alright mate, Lets go" Kazuto said, gesturing to the guy

"Oh, By the way, the name's Klein!" He said cheerily, before he looked over to me with a cheeky grin "I'm 24 years old, Single, Looking for a girlfriend"

Kazuto had an irked face, and I stared at him with a blank look

"U-Uhm, The name is Sinon, I-I'm not interested, Thank you" I said, waving him off

"You can call me Kirito, And she's taken" Kazuto said, looking to the man with a- ' _wait a second, what does he mean I'm taken!?_ '

"W-What do you mean with that!?" By the time I yelled that out, my face was as red as a tomato, it seemed as he registered what he said a second too late, and his face lit up too.

"Hah! I Like you guys!" Klein said with a wide smile

"A-Anyways, let's go..." Kirito said, Looking off to the road

 _ **-/-**_

"No, you do it like this!" Kirito yelled out, making a small pose "First you need to do the starting motion, then when the weapon changes color, it means the attack is ready, then you just... let it go!" Kirito said, Slashing off in an horizontal streak, as a large red mark appeared on the animal, as it let out a high pitched scream, charging towards him.

"Okay, I think I got it!" Klein said, holding his sword over his shoulder, staring intently at the boar, until it shone a bright red, and he lashed out at the boar, dealing the killing blow.

"Whew! That was hard!" Klein said, panting a bit

"Well, you better get used to it then, because those are the slime equivalents of other RPG's" Kirito said with a short chuckle

"W-What!? I thought it was like one of those mini bosses!" Klein said with shock on his features.

I Laughed a bit, before I voiced up too "Those are the weakest monsters around, If you can't get past them, you have some training to do"

"Ah, Oh well, Anyways, I ordered some pizza, so I'm going to log off for a bit, I'll be back later!" Klein said, as he turned around, opening his menu.

"See you later" Kirito said, turning to me. "Pretty fun guy, don't you think?"

"Yeah, he's nice, I guess" I said, looking over to the horizon, as the sunset of this world painted the scenery orange.

"Uhm, Hey guys, I think the disconnect button is missing?"

We both made audible 'hm?'s and looked over to him

"It should be there, it's the bottom-most button." Kirito said dismissively

"Yeah... No, it's here, but its grayed out" Klein replied, scratching his temples with confusion.

"What...?" Both of us said, as we opened our menus, and in fact, the logout button had been grayed out

"Try calling a GM" I said over to Klein, as he poked at his menu again.

"I tried that, but he's not picking up" Klein said, Scratching at the back of his neck.

"Oh well, it's the first day of official service, It ought to have some bugs" Kirito said, looking over to him

"I bet the devs are all in a crazy to fix this! Anyways, is there any other way to log out? I really need to pick up that Pizza"

Kirito looked off to nothingness for a moment, in deep thought, before he turned back to Klein "No, there is no other emergency log-off option, at least nothing was mentioned, and since your movements in your real body are blocked, the only other way is if someone took of the NerveGear for you"

"Aw, Damn, I live alone"

"Well, My Aunt is coming home late but my little sister-"

"Sister? How old is she? What does she look like?" Klein said, Closing up on Kirito with a rather awkward smile

"S-She's sporty and hates games, totally not your type, man!" Kirito replied hastily, pushing the man off of him

"It doesn't matter!" Klein said, Before Kirito kicked the man on the groin with a loud huff, sending him off, as Klein started rolling on the floor in pain.

"Stop that, you can't even really feel pain here" Kirito said, looking to Klein with an annoyed look.

"G-Gah! This feels pretty real to me!" Klein said, with a pained look on his face, As he kept rolling on the floor in a fetal position.

I looked at Kirito's face.

Kirito looked in my eyes.

I pinched his arm.

He gave a small yelp.

"That really hurt, What was that for?" Kirito said, rubbing his arm where I had pinched him. "You weren't supposed to feel pain, At least you couldn't feel pain in the Beta-Test!"

Meanwhile, I just looked pensative...

"Kazuto, First the logout button is gone, Then you can feel real pain in a game where getting hurt is routine, Both of these things aren't really good for a game, Something here is off"

He looked to me with slowly widening eyes, as realization started hitting him, and then I felt a slight pull in my mind, and soon the plains were replaced with the plaza of the City of Beginnings, And soon the area was filled with hundreds and hundreds of players, as the Plaza became tightly crowded, Barriers in the exits kept everyone inside.

"Forced teleport? What's the meaning of this?" Kazuto said, As I moved closer to him, holding his arm.

Soon enough, Red hexagons with the messages 'WARNING' and 'System Announcement' started popping up in the skies, and soon the sky was filled with them, making a grid.

What came next was rather creepy, as blood started seeping out between the panels, but before it could fall to the ground, it flew back up and started forming something.

"It's a GM" I said quietly over to Kirito, who nodded.

Soon, the familiar red-robed shape of the one Developer we'd met and admired slowly formed, looking down on the players

"Attention, Players, And Welcome, To my world!" The figure said, holding its out its arms to the sides "My name is Kayaba Akihiko, and in this moment, I'm the only one who holds control over this world"

"I'm sure most of you already noticed the missing log-out button in your menu, And if you were wondering, No, That is not a defect, I repeat, That is not an defect, That is a feature of Sword Art Online"

Soon enough, an uproar started, as the players started shouting and making questions to Kayaba, I looked worriedly over to Kirito, who rubbed my back gently.

The huge figure raised a hand to the players, before he continued "Logging out is forbidden, And no one on the outside world can log you out, If anything is attempted, High-energy microwave transmitters in the NerveGear will destroy your brain, thus, ending your life"

My breathing got heavier, as I looked over to Kirito, "Is that true? Can the NerveGear do that?"

He looked to me with a dark look on his face, before nodding "The transmitters on the NerveGear are identical to a microwave, if you output enough power, it can literally cook your brain"

"Unfortunately" The large figure overhead continued "Several players' friends and family disregarded this warning, and attempted to remove the NerveGear, Therefore, Out of the Twenty-four thousand, Nine-hundred and eleven players present in the games launch, Five-hundred and Twenty have been removed, Both from this world, And the real one"

I Gasped a bit, Five hundred people!? That... was just...

"As you can see" The hexagons in the sky changed, to display several news broadcasts over the world, I could see in one of them a familiar place, It Suguha sobbing in front of Kazuto's house, as her mother rubbed her back soothingly, This was real, Both me and Kirito were in that house, it was as if Kayaba knew, he wanted _us_ to see it."News Broadcasts all over the globe are now reporting this, and thus, I can tell you, that the chance of having your NerveGear removed is Minimal"

As if on cue, One of the players in front of us jittered a bit, before he cracked apart in red particles, as the surrounding bystanders screamed or just looked paralyzed in shock.

"On my previous statement, I'd like to correct, Five Hundred and Twenty One players have already died" He said, As panic slowly filled the players in the area, who stopped yelling and screaming, instead begging and praying.

This couldn't be real.

This was only a dream.

Yes, A dream, I was so excited about the game's release that my mind decided to play a prank on me and try to traumatize me again.

However the red figure continued.

"There is only one way to escape, and that is by defeating the boss on the hundredth floor, at the top of Aincrad, I hope you all can relax, and clear the game, But remember this" He said, looking over the crowd with an ominous glare "There is no longer any method to revive a player, If your health drops to zero, your player will be deleted, and simultaneously, the NerveGear will end you life"

I slowly felt fear creeping up within me, This couldn't be real, This was all a nightmare, All a nightmare...

"Finally, I'd like to inform that I have added a present in your item storage, Please see it for yourselves"

Slowly, all the players started opening their menus, and selecting their inventories, I did too, and there was a «Hand Mirror» item in my inventory, I picked it up, and looked over to Kazuto, who also had the same item in his hands; I looked to the mirror and saw the reflection of my character in it, And suddenly, It flashed a bright color, slightly blinding me, and when I looked at the mirror again, No longer was I Sinon, with the Teal hair and eyes, but Shino Asada, with my dark hair and black eyes, And then I looked over to Kazuto.

It was him, the same height, the same body shape, the same skin color, the same hair, the same face.

"H-How? How does it know!?" He yelled out in frustration and shock.

"K-Kazuto..." I remembered the day when both of us had done the calibration, as the NerveGear asked for us to stretch and pat ourselves, and when Kazuto mentioned how the NerveGear had a facial recognition program that would map your face perfectly "T-The Calibration..."

"K-Kirito!? Sinon? Are those you?" We heard a voice call out to us, It was a man with a mess of spiky red hair, short beard on his chin, and a bandana wrapped around his head- _'wait, was this Klein?_ ' "Oh god, you two look _so_ different, This is so confusing!" He said angrily, as he massaged his temples.

"And now it is complete, This concludes the tutorial for Sword Art Online" Kayaba said, looking down on the hundreds of players down below, as if scrutinizing them, "Good luck" and then he disappeared.

People all around us started breaking apart, Some started begging, Others started complaining about real life things of importance, Others started to sob, Small children started crying, Everyone was falling apart, I was, too; But before I could kneel down and start crying, I felt a strong grip in my wrist, and then I was dragged through the crowd, until we were in an alleyway in the town.

"Okay, Listen, The first level is only large enough, resources will quickly start being depleted, And if we want to survive we'll need better equipment and higher levels, We'll have to go to the next town immediately, before things start going south" Kazuto said sternly to Klein, as he'd dragged him with us too.

Klein nodded to Kazuto, as he'd started making his way out again, but Klein voiced up again "Oi! I have some friends in here, I just can't leave them and go on, Maybe we can meet up with them now?"

I could feel Kazuto looking to me, as if he'd wanted to ask me something, but I just kept looking down to the ground, tears threatening to come out.

"I'm sorry, Klein, but I guess we'll have to go our own ways here" Kazuto said resentfully.

"No man, it's alright! You helped me out tons, so I'm going to do my part and spread the knowledge to everyone!" Klein said with a large smile "Hey, Maybe we can meet up in the future, Who knows, Maybe we can make a big guild or something, Anyways, I have to find my buddies, See you, man!"

Klein waved and parted, Kazuto grabbed me by the wrist once again and continued down the alleyway, after a bit, he stopped, looked back, but continued walking, dragging me with him.

This was real, Wasn't it?

Oh god.

"Shino"

I just wanted to play a game, Why did this have to happen!?

And now, Me and Kazuto were going to die!

"Shino?"

Why? Why do these things keep happening to me? What did I do to deserve them?

" _Shino!_ "

I looked up, seeing the blurry shape of Kazuto looking to me, as I looked at him with teary eyes.

He was worried.

I was scared.

I choked a sob.

And then he wrapped his arms around me.

"Listen, Shino, I will not let anything hurt you, I will protect you, And we'll make it out of here, Okay?"

Was he serious? Was he going to save us?

I wanted to believe, But it was so hard.

"...P-Promise?"

"I Swear it on my life!"

I looked up at him, sniffled, rubbed my eyes, smiled, and nuzzled the crook of his neck, returning the embrace.

"Thank you, Kazuto"

And then, all of the worries that I had were gone, instead being replaced by a warm emotion, I guess that was hope, The fear that I had but a few moments ago had disappeared, being replaced by courage.

We _were_ going to make it out of here, We _were_ going to _survive_.

 _'Kazuto, This is why I love you_ '

I looked at his face, now much clearer, as he smiled to me, rubbing my back soothingly.

' _You can make me feel strong, No matter how weak I am_ '

 _ **-/-**_

 _ **And so it begins.**_

 _ **As a side note, i've finally reached the Two-Thousand-Words-Per-Chapter-Average target. Shouldn't have done that tiny introduction chapter.**_

 _ **Please leave a review if you enjoyed.**_


	8. Illfang, The Kobold Lord

_**Disclaimer: I do not own Sword Art Online**_

 _ **-/-**_

' _In the first week of Sword Art Online, it has been announced that over five-thousand two-hundred people have died, Within this month, Six thousand deaths have been confirmed'_

That was the word going around, Within the last month, over twenty percent of the players that had joined the game in its start were already gone, Whether was it because of inexperience, being slain by the monsters, even dying of hunger, as the game now had such a feature, and suicides, so many suicides...

Six thousand people, Dead.

I had to keep remembering myself that it was not a ruse, not a trick, it was all reality, we were stuck here now, this would be our life.

"Shino? Are you awake?"

"Yes, Come in" I said, propping myself back up while taking a long yawn.

Kazuto opened the door to the room of the small Inn we were staying at, Looking at me with a small smile, before he sat down beside me in my bed.

"How are you holding up?" He said, putting a comforting hand on my shoulder, grasping it gently.

"Better now" I said, scooting closer to him and resting my head on his shoulder, still sleepy.

I stood there for a few minutes, just enjoying the comfortable touch for a few minutes.

"Hey Shino, We should head out soon" He said, ending the contact.

"Hm?"

"A scouting party located the boss room earlier today, they'll be holding a conference to see how they will proceed, I think we should lend a hand, What do you think?"

Ah, the elusive first dungeon, Many parties had already tried- and failed- to clear it, the labyrinth was different from what it was in the beta, people were already starting to lose hope, if somehow the boss was defeated, it would bring everyone's spirits back up.

"I'm up for it" I said, lifting myself up and stretching, Before re-equipping my gear.

It was a simple leather cloak in a dark navy color, with black details, under it I wore a set of light leather armor that had been a quest reward, I also had a quiver held diagonally in my back by a strap that went over my chest, with some of my arrows in it.

I looked over to Kazuto, who did the same thing, He first equipped a leather armor that was identical to mine, seeing we both had completed the quest, and much alike me, a cloak, but in pure black color, his sword's sheath strapped to his back much like my quiver was.

To say it simply, we were matching, and the cloaks could be explained by the fact that stealth killing earned a higher amount of experience while also dealing extra damage, thus making the «Hiding» skill a formidable piece of our arsenals.

"Oh, before we go, I think we should stop by the dungeon, just to check it around and be prepared" He said, just before we stepped out of the room, I looked at him and nodded with a small 'okay'

We made our way out of the Inn, the innkeeper silently acknowledging our presence as we made our way out.

As soon as we left the Inn, We felt a familiar presence creep up on us, before it jumped down from the building overhead and landed in front of us;

"Good mornin', Kiri-bou, Sinononon"

It was just Argo. ' _And I hate that nickname!_ '

"Hey there Argo, What did the buyer say?" Kirito said lazily, as he continued walking

"He raised the price up to 23500 Col, He says that's his highest offer" Argo replied, walking alongside us

Kirito picked the blade from its sheath on his back, looking over it for a moment, before shaking his head "I just got it upgraded to +6, This thing is good enough to carry me a few floors, He'll have to up his bargaining game"

"Oh, that's a shame, I'll tell him that then, But I don't think he'll be really happy" She said with a shrug "Anyways, Have fun on your date!" She said as she twirled around and ran off- wait, Date?

A small blush made itself home in my and Kazuto's face, as both of us twirled around to face the now-gone Argo.

"Huff, She gets on my nerves!" I complained loudly to Kazuto

"She's nice enough, I like her " He replied, shrugging.

We continued to make our way towards the dungeon, The walk was pretty uneventful, as we abused our hiding skill to remain unseen to any potential enemies, We walked inside the dungeon, With our maps open, as we slowly remapped the area, However, We heard a few fighting noises and pained yelps, Kirito looked to me, and we both nodded to eachother, We broke in a sprint, and soon reached the source of the sounds.

In a slightly larger corridor of the dungeon, a red-cloaked figure expertly fought against a Kobold, the trademark foe of the first floor, However, her cloak was littered with holes that revealed bright red marks, and her stance seemed a bit off, ' _She's in pain_ '

Before we could do anything else, she stabbed forward, killing the Kobold with a precise hit to the chest, She stumbled back for a bit, turning to us, before she collapsed to the floor.

Before we could even think, we had already rushed to her side, inspecting her, We soon breathed out in relief, she wasn't in any immediate danger, but she definitely was in a lot of pain.

Kazuto picked her up from the floor and we both rushed out, as I prepared a health potion.

We soon reached the exit, rushing outside, we stopped by a tree that offered a good cover from the sunlight, Kazuto set her down and I moved to her side, Making her drink the potion.

Soon enough, the red marks in her body had faded, and a few minutes later, she stirred, and sat up, looking around, and then to us.

"You saved me?" She said with a small voice, To which both of us silently nodded, "Thank you" She said, bowing a bit

"Don't take it for granted" Kazuto said "We only did it because of the map data you have" Wait, What? Was he being stuck-up now? I tsk'ed and punched him lightly in the arm

"Don't worry about him, he's like that sometimes, You can call me Sinon, and he is Kirito," I said, smiling to the girl and sitting a bit closer "Anyways, what were you doing in the dungeon all by yourself? You could've gotten killed"

"I was grinding, I've been there for about... four days, I think" She said "And I'm a solo player"

Four days on her own? Wasn't she afraid of getting lost or starving to death?

"Nobody should play solo, You'll be safer with a group" Kazuto said, I'd known he liked to play mostly as a solo player, but as soon as we both started hunting together, it was proven that two heads thought - and fought - better than one.

Our thoughts were interrupted as a alarm sound came from Kazuto's direction, He poked at his menu, and then looked over to me "It's about time"

"Hey, We're heading to a conference to see how we're going to beat the boss, You seem skilled, maybe you should come with us too" I said, extending a hand to the girl, helping her up, she replied with a small nod, and then the three of us made our way back to town.

Once again, the walk was pretty uneventful, A stray monster or two getting in our way, Nothing we couldn't handle, And then we found ourselves making our way into a stone plaza that largely resembled a amphitheater, with stone steps serving as seating and a large circular stage at the bottom.

The amphitheater slowly filled in with groups of players, most of them dressed up in simple leather armor, others with equipment from quests or dropped by monsters, it seemed as the three of us were the odd ones out, dressed in our cloaks.

As soon as most of the players had settled down, A blue-haired figure clad in a iron breastplate and blue robes got into the stage, greeting the players with a simple salute.

"Hello, Everyone, My name is Diavel, and I like to think of myself as Knight" He said, breaking the tension as a few players laughed, commenting that the game had no class system.

"First of all, if you're under level 11, please leave now, I don't want to be taking any risks tomorrow, alright?" He said, to which, a couple of players stood up and left the amphitheater.

"Anyways, I am a part of the party that located the boss room, and I'll be leading the raid early tomorrow; I want everyone to group up in parties, this is going to be hard, and I don't want to have to lose anyone else here, alright?" He said, looking over the group, to that, Me and Kirito were a bit unsettled, as we looked around, seeing the larger six and seven player parties forming, So we looked over to the girl that seated herself just besides us.

"Hey, It seems we're the odd ones out" I said, chuckling a bit "Would you mind partying with us until the dungeon is over?"

The girl seemed pensative for a few moments, before she shrugged "I haven't been in a Party before" she said, I had expected her to not be familiar with groups, seeing she had mentioned she was a solo player, but hadn't expected her to never have actually been in a party.

"Don't worry" Kazuto said, entering the conversation "Once we've beaten the boss, We'll dissolve the party"

The girl nodded to us, and the group started settling down, Diavel seemed he was about to continue, but before he could say anything, someone stood up from the crowd and announced his presence.

"Wait a moment! There's something I need to take off of my chest!"

We looked back down and saw a man with brown spiky hair.

"I'm positive some of you need to be apologizing to the ones that have died so far." He said, looking over the crown with scrutinizing eyes

"Hey, Kibaou-san, You're referring to the beta-testers, aren't you?" Diavel said, crossing his arms and looking to the man.

"Of course I am! The day this crappy game started the beta-testers disappeared and left us to die, while taking the best hunting grounds and profitable quests, abandoning all of us beginners, and afterwards, the feigned ignorance for doing so!" He said, pointing to the crowd "Some of you are sure to be beta-testers! We should make them kneel in apology and make them hand out the items and gold they have been hoarding so far! I cannot and will not trust such people!" He said, huffing and crossing his arms.

Both me and Kazuto tensed, looking down to the man, while yes it was true that the beta testers had all but vanished, it was not the entire truth, but before any of us could say anything, a bulky man with a war axe stood up from the crowd and made his way to the stage.

"Mind if I speak?" he said

"...Go on" Kibaou said, taking a small step backwards

"My name is Agil, So, Kibaou-san, you're saying that all the beta testers should take responsibility for all the deaths that have occurred so far, by apologizing and offering reparations because they did not look after us new players, right?"

"Y-Yes" Kibaou said hesitantly

The large man picked a small, very familiar book from his pouch "This is the guidebook, I'm sure you have one of them too, Its up for free in the shop after all"

"I do, what about it?"

"The people that distributed these... Were former beta testers" The man turned to the shocked crowd "Listen, this information was available to everyone, yet many died, I thought that we would be doing is planning how to defeat the boss, using what we learned from those deaths, not blaming the beta-testers for something that isn't even their fault"

Kibaou grimaced and I thought it would be a good moment to stand up and say something, Kazuto looked curiously to me as I did so, after all, We'd also paid our fair share in helping write that book.

"If everyone would open the guidebook in the swordsmanship section, tell me who wrote it" I said loudly to the crowd, At that, Kazuto looked over to me with a surprised face and made a small 'eh?' sound, as the crowd rummaged through their guidebooks

"It was written by one 'Kirito' guy" One of the nameless people within the crowd said aloud

"Great, Now please turn a few pages to the Archery section" I continued, looking smugly to them as Kazuto gaped at me in disbelief

"It was written by Sinon" Another one said, albeit a bit more quietly, I nodded to the crowd, and another one complemented: "They're both beta-testers, aren't they?"

I nodded to the group, with a small smirk in my face, before Kibaou snapped

"So what if they're beta-testers!? They could be anywhere right now!"

I smirked ' _Right what I wanted you to say_ ' I pulled Kazuto up with me as he let out a startled yelp, and both of us made our way to the stage

"We are Kirito and Sinon, And we're Beta-testers" I said, bowing a bit, seeing the crowd's disbelieving looks, and Kazuto's shocked look, before I turned to Kibaou with a frown "While I really hate to admit that some Beta-Testers use their advantage unfairly, Most of us genuinely want to help everyone out, If you read the book you'll see that dozens of names are mentioned there, they're all beta-testers, and we _do_ want to help you" I paused a bit and looked back to the gathering "Don't make a few bad ones spoil the entire bunch" I said, before I dragged Kazuto back with me and we re-seated ourselves besides the red-cloaked girl, who had a bit of amazement in her face, as Kazuto looked at me dumbfounded.

I could only smirk

I finally stood up for myself

It felt _exhilaratingly good to do something on my own!_

As soon as we settled down, Diavel looked back to the group, as Kibaou and the other man, Agil, seated themselves back down.

"May I continue now? Great." He said, picking up the small book again "About the boss... The truth is, the book that was just mentioned contains information about it in its latest version" he said, to which a few 'oh's?' were heard, and Kibaou looked up in disbelief

"According to the book, the boss is called Illfang the Kobold Lord, and he can summon minions called Ruin Kobold Sentinels, His arms consist of a axe and a buckler, and when his last health bars reach the red zone, he changes to a curved sword called a talwar, His attack patterns also change" To that, the crowd started muttering

' _Awesome_ '

' _That information is thorough_ '

' _I guess the beta-testers aren't half bad_ '

' _Wow_ '

"That concludes the conference" Diavel said, putting his book out "Lastly, concerning loot distribution, Money gets automatically sorted between everyone, The experience is given to the party that gives the last hit, and Items belong to whoever gets them; Any objections?"

The crowd stood silent, as if querying him to continue

"Great, We'll be going out at ten AM tomorrow, You're all dismissed"

Some players opened their party menus and adjusted their settings, others added a few contacts to their friends list, a few left just then, and slowly the amphitheater was left deserted, and before we even noticed, the red-cloaked girl had already made her way out, soon, only the two of us stood in the amphitheater

"Hey, Shino" Kazuto said, looking over to me, I just made a sillent 'hm?' sound and looked over to him

"What you did back there... That was amazing" He praised me, making my heart bubble a bit, I just smiled as a small blush made itself home in my face. "Though, you shouldn't go telling everyone we're beta-testers, people aren't actually very fond of us"

"Ne ne, I know, I know" I said, waving him off

The rest of the day had passed by quietly, Me and Kazuto were currently making our way through a road to reach the center of the small town, where it seemed the players had a gathering, to tell a few stories and share a drink, I'd asked Kazuto to come along, it would be good if he opened up a bit more to people.

We both were chumming on pieces of bread as we made our way there, we saw a familiar red-clad figure, silently eating a loaf of bread identical to ours, I pointed her out to Kirito, and went her direction.

"It tastes pretty good, doesn't it?" Kazuto said, standing by my side, The girl looked over to us, and then back down

"Do you mind if we sit here?" I said, smiling to the girl, She shook negative, and me and Kirito sat side-by-side as she scooted away from us.

"Do you really think it's good?" She said, looking over to us.

"Yeah, we've been eating at least once a day since we got here, because of the hunger mechanics, But we put a little twist on it though" Kazuto said, as he picked a small jar shaped object from his inventory.

The girl looked to us as both of us poked at the top of the jar and spread the white cream over our bread, and then handed her the jar, she looked curiously at it for awhile, and then poked at its top, her finger giving off a small glow, before she swiped at the bread, spreading the cream over it.

We both took large hearty bites out of our own, While she looked hesitantly at hers; "Go-on, iths gooth" Kazuto said with a half-full mouth, While I just laughed at his lack of manners.

The girl gave the bread one last look, before she took a small bite out of it, She kept looking at it for a few more seconds, had she not liked it?

And then she almost swallowed the entire thing in one go, it was pretty hilarious, actually.

"Did you like it? We got it from a quest called 'The Cow Strikes Back' one town over, We can show you how to get it if you want" Kazuto said, but she nodded negative.

"I didn't come to this town to eat."

The two of us looked at her curiously, before Kazuto spoke up again

"Then why did you?"

"So I could remain as myself" she said, looking over to us "Because I'd rather keep going on as myself rather than rot away in an inn at the starting town... even if I end up dead at the hands of a monster... I don't care if I die, this world isn't something I'm going to ever give in to "

Before I could hold myself, I had already moved closer to her, Some urge, something inside me sparked, and I pulled the other girl in an embrace, She let out a startled sound, and I could see her surprised expression below her hood

"Stay strong, Okay" I said to her, rubbing a comforting hand in her back "I know things aren't looking up, but worry a bit more about yourself, We're going to make it through this game, and we're going back to our homes, so don't ever give up, alright?"

These words flew out of my tongue calmly, I didn't know I could do that, Maybe it was something I picked up from Kazuto, from all the times he'd whisper comforting words to me? Nevertheless, the girl now smiled below her cloak.

"Asuna"

"Huh?"

"My name is Asuna, It's a pleasure meeting you" She said, pulling her hood down, revealing long chestnut hair and hazel eyes, and even though she tried to hide it, we could see the small smile that formed in her features.

 _ **-/-**_

"Listen up everyone!" Diavel said, looking over the gathered players, as we stood in front of the gargantuan boss' room door "I have only one thing to say, Lets win!"

He pushed at the door and it opened easily, seeming much lighter than it looked, The whole group, easily reaching forty players entered the room, Us three loners, designed as a support team, to help clear the boss' minions.

Two red ominous eyes glared at us from the back of the room, as the many torches littering the pillars of the room lit up, The huge monster jumped forwards, landing in the center of the room with a grotesque roar, The creature held out its equipment, a large axe and a buckler, before three armored creatures armed with maces appeared around him, and charged at the group

"This is it! Commence attack!"

Our objective here was simple, We had to keep the Sentinels away from the main assault teams and support them where it was needed.

This was it, The first boss battle.

I vaguely remembered fighting against these monsters back in the beta, it was a much too similar setup, albeit the room had a slightly different size, nothing looked to have changed much.

The first sentinel rushed forward, I wasted no time equipping my bow and readying a arrow to be fired, I took my aim, and as soon as the string shone red, I let go, the arrow flew straight towards the creature's torso, but it was deflected at the last moment.

"Tsk, Kirito! I need you to distract it!" I said, readying another arrow

"Gotcha!" He said, rushing at the creature, exchanging blows that were parried by the creature "Asuna! Switch!"

The girl quickly rushed in, unsheathing a rapier, and stabbing the creature a few times, knocking it back

' _I thought she was a novice, but that dexterity is impressive_ '

This was my chance, I pulled the string back, perfecting my aim in the creatures head, as it was distracted exchanging blows with the girl, The string shone red, but I held it for a few more moments, pulling the string a bit more, until it shone a bright blue

"«Piercing Shot!»"

The arrow flew out in an amazing speed, in under a second, it had already found its way not only in, but through the creatures armor, as the arrow was completely embedded inside its head, the tip sticking out of the other end... it was rather gruesome.

Soon enough, the creature dissipated in red particles. As loot menus for the three of us appeared, listing experience and gained gold.

"Great, it seems we're the first ones done, Lets help out the others!" Kazuto said, As we rushed to aid the other parties

The fight went like that for a few more minutes, we finally killed the last of the six sentinels, the groups regained their breath before rushing with the main groups, I observed how the main groups were doing from the corner of my eye, and noticed that the boss was almost reaching the Critical zone.

"Everyone! Stand back!" Diavel yelled from the front of the group, as the monster finally hit the red zone, and let out a deafening roar, Diavel rushed forwards with his sword in hands, preparing a sword skill, However, as the monster pulled his weapon out, it was not the one we had known from the guidebook.

"That's not a tulwar! That's a nodachi! Everyone stay as far as possible!" we yelled out, but it was too late, as the monster jumped off from pillar to pillar, eventually jumping on top of Diavel and striking out with speed and power he'd not shown before, Diavel was hit in the middle of his torso, and was sent flying away, landing near us, his health bar quickly depleting.

"Diavel!" Kibaou shouted, as he and the others from the main group prepared for another attack

"You idiot!" Kazuto yelled "Why did you go alone?"

The man just chuckled as he tried to hold in the pain that the attack caused, instead grimacing "You're beta testers, I'm sure you know"

' _The last attack bonus'_ both me and Kazuto realized.

Kazuto quickly unpacked a potion, holding it out to Diavel, but he stopped it weakly with his hands.

"You were a beta-tester too, weren't you?" I said, crouching down beside him.

He weakly nodded "Defeat the boss... for everyone"

I just grimaced... That selfishly selfless idiot!

I picked the potion from Kazuto's hand and forcefully shoved it in the man's mouth, startling him, but saving him nevertheless, just before his health bar was fully depleted.

"We're not losing anyone today, Got it!?" I stood up, pulling Kazuto with me "We got a boss to kill, Come on!"

Kazuto did not reply, instead just grinning and rushing with me, Asuna rushing to our side a second later.

I pulled another arrow from my quiver- however, it was not any normal arrow, its tip was red and the shaft was black

"Kirito! Asuna! Hold him for me!"

The two of them rushed ahead, both of them preparing sword skills; I stopped just then, kneeling on one leg while holding my bow diagonally, holding my aim steady.

This was my only shot, I'd have to make it count, I had only this special arrow, and my bow was in the verge of reaching the end of its durability, and then I'd have to resort using one of the weaker ones.

The two of them struck out at the enemy, Asuna dealt attacks to its sides with her incredible dexterity, as Kazuto blocked and dodged the monsters attacks, but they were quickly losing ground, as the monster had acquired ability it did not have minutes prior.

I put the arrow's nock in the string, pulling it until it shone red, I inhaled deeply, and then stopped breathing completely, concentrating on my target.

"«Piercing Shot!»"

The string shone blue for a moment, but then I let the arrow go, As soon as the string stopped touching the arrow, the bow broke out in particles of blue;

The arrow flew in a straight line, flying at breakneck speeds, leaving a black line behind its path, and then...

It hit the boss, straight in its left eye, as it let out an anguished roar, slashing madly around him.

"Kirito! It's your chance!"

He rushed ahead, with his sword held out to his side, as it began glowing, the monster slashed at him vertically, swinging his sword down, it became embedded in the ground, and Kazuto took that opportunity to jump in the creatures arm and...

...Cleave his head right off.

Kazuto jumped down, breathing heavily in exhaustion, as many of the other players did the same, they all looked to the defeated boss in awe, as it disappeared in red particles.

The loot menu appeared from all the players, and in the case of us three, several level up notifications littered our field of view.

I walked over to kirito, as he looked to the small info box- "Special drop: «Coat of Midnight»"

 _"We did it!"_

 _"Yeah!"_

 _"Yatta!"_

 _"Awesome!"_

The crowd continued to cheer, as I smiled brightly to both Asuna and Kazuto, Before I dragged a surprised Kazuto up from the ground and held the three of them in a group hug

"We did it! I can't believe we did it!"

Asuna smiled and Kazuto rubbed the back of his neck sheepishly.

"You... You bastards!" Someone yelled, pointing to us

"Huh?" The three of us looked back, seeing it was Kibaou, whose anger was seething as he glared at us

"You knew the boss's movements! You knew what he'd do! And you withheld that from us so you could take all the experience and the attack bonus for yourselves! If you had shared, Diavel-han wouldn't have been hurt!" He said, unsheathing his sword and pointing at us "Not only are you Beta-Testers, you're cheaters too!"

"Kibaou! Stop it!" It was Diavel, as he put a hand in Kibaou's shoulder, pushing him aside, as his other arm was slung over were he'd been hit by the boss previously, clearly in pain.

"But Diavel! They're-"

"Look, I have a confession to make" He took a few steps from the crowd, and raising his arms "The truth is, I too, Am a beta tester!"

Even if I'd already known, it was a surprise to me that he'd say it out loud

"I wanted to get the last attack bonus, it's a special coat item, however I did not expect that the boss would have changed from the Beta-test, If it had not been for them..." the man trailed off, looking off to nowhere.

"I can't believe you're a Beta-tester! You've been helping us since the beginning, how could you be one!? they all left us behind when the game started!" Kibaou said, shaking the man

"The truth is, my friend, that some of us really want to help, but you've heard that before" Diavel said, turning around, Kibaou looked a bit lost, and just stood there, staring at the man's back.

Diavel then sighed and turned and walked up to us, giving a small chuckle "I'm really sorry for that... And thank you for saving my life back there, I owe you one"

"Don't sweat it, just don't pull another one of these" Kirito replied, as I nodded to him.

"I hope we can meet again, I'll be counting on you in the next dungeon" The man said, before turning back to the group

"What will you do about them?" I said, pointing out to the quite unsettled crowd

The man sighed and scratched the back of his head "I'll clear things up here with them, don't worry about it, go to the city and turn the teleport on" he finished, as he started walking back to the group

We looked back to the exit door, before Kazuto slightly turned to Asuna

"Well, I guess it's over here then, thanks for the help, Asuna..." He said, opening the Party menu "You know, there are a lot of helpful people around, so if someone trustworthy invites you to their guild, accept it, there's a definite limit for solo players after all-"

"No."

"Huh?"

"I want to go with you"

That had surprised me, after all it had been the girl that said that she'd rather remain a solo player, after we'd both been staring at her curiously for a few moments, she sighed, and continued

"You two helped me out a ton, and while I hate to admit it, I've been having loads of fun while being with you two, So, I hope you don't mind if I tag along?" She said, giving us a small sheepish smile.

"Of course we don't mind!" I said cheerfully, smiling to the girl "You're very welcome to stay with us!"

And that, My friends, Is how a very strong and long lasting friendship started.

 _ **-/-**_

 _ **Holy SHIT, Now THAT was a long chapter, honestly when I started writing it I had planned for some two-thousand words or so, but I couldn't find a good point to wrap it up, and kept writing for hours, So now we end up with this 5000 word behemoth.**_

 _ **If i must follow my rule of "The next chapter must be larger than the previous one", then the next chapter will have 7500 words- just kidding! It would take me weeks to write something like that and then proofread it all through, Next chapter will be back to normal size.**_

 _ **I guess I'm taking a break for the rest of this week.**_

 _ **Oh, and as a IMPORTANT SIDE NOTE!(tm) the next chapter will come out in... a long while, I guess; As many of you noticed, I only update the story when the next chapter is already done, It is not the case with this particular chapter, since I've completely ran out of ideas and don't know how to proceed, Even if i already have the end figured out (The middles always give me trouble!)**_

 _ **Either way, Thanks for reading my nonsensical blabbering, This AN is longer than chapter 5's!.**_

 _ **Anyways, See you next time, Leave a review if you enjoyed!**_


	9. The Moonlit Black Cats

_**Disclaimer: I do not own Sword Art Online**_

 _ **-/-**_

"To the Moonlit Black Cats!"

"And don't forget Sinon, Asuna and Kirito! If it wasn't for them, we'd probably still be stuck back there"

"Don't sweat it, We were only doing our jobs" Kazuto said calmly, resting his arms on the table

"I'm really thankful for you saving us, I was really scared when we got cornered, so I was relieved when you showed up"

A few hours ago, we'd met with this small guild, as they were struggling to leave the labyrinth they'd entered to grind; We helped them get out of there, and they offered us a drink and some food back at the Inn they were staying.

"Um, Hey, I know this might be prying... But would you guys mind telling us your levels?" Keita, the group's leader called out to us in a whisper

We shared a quick glance, and Asuna was about to speak, but Kirito beat her to it

"We're about level 30"

"Wow! So that's why you're so strong! We're all around level 20, so we only need to catch up to you"

"Nah, don't think much of it" He continued "Since its only the three of us, we're forced to target lone mobs or small groups, It's not that efficient"

"Then, I know it might be a bad time to ask, But do you want to join our guild? what do you say?"

The three of us shared a few glances, before Keita continued

"Tetsuo's the only one that can act as a vanguard since he's a mace user, This girl's name is Sachi, I'm planning to have her switch to a sword and shield so she can be a vanguard, but she's clueless, so it would be nice to have you guys coaching her"

"Quit belittling me" The girl said with a pout "It's not my fault that I get scared when I'm suddenly thrown up in the front against these monsters"

"Don't sweat it, you can just hide behind you shield, Geez, you're such a scaredy cat!"

To that, the guild shared a small laugh at the girls expense, while the three of us shared glances, considering the proposal

"Anyways, we don't want to prod, we're all members of our school's computer research club, but we're sure you three would fit right in!"

"So what do you think?" Kirito said, looking over to us, After all, since the first floor, it had been only us three, we didn't dare team up with other groups, after all, even with the events that occurred in the first floor, the beta-testers were still loathed by many.

"Shouldn't be too bad" I replied calmly, with a shrug

"No objections to it either" Asuna said after me

"Alright then" Kirito turned back to the guild "I guess we're joining up with you then"

To that, smiles slowly started forming in the guild's members faces.

"My name is Sasamaru! We'll get along just fine!"

"I'm Tetsuo, Nice meeting you!"

"The name's Ducker! If you need anything stolen, Just holler at me!"

We chuckled at the guilds introductions, introducing ourselves too, and accepted the invites that appeared in our interfaces a second later;

Nothing bad could happen, could it?

 _ **-/-**_

"So the clearing group has made it past floor 27, huh? That's awesome" Keita said, as he was sprawled on the floor, looking up to a copy of _'Weekly Argo',_ written by a dear friend of ours "Hey, Guys, What do you think is the difference between us and the clearing group?"

"Information, most likely" Kazuto said, and I continued "They monopolize the best hunting grounds and also have the best equipment available"

"Gah, I'm sure that's partly it" Keita said, crossing his arms "But I think a major factor is Willpower"

"Willpower?" Kirito said, looking to him, as I remained leaned against the wall.

Keita smiled and sat up, looking off to the horizon

"I guess you could call it the wish to protect your friends- no, all the players, Right now, even if we are the ones being protected, I like to believe our determination is just as strong" He looked to Kirito "The safety of my friends is my greatest priority, however, I hope one day we can join the clearing group, and help make our way out of here"

"Yo, Leader" Ducker said, sneaking up behing him "Nice speech!" Before he promptly caught the other man in a playful headlock

"Watch it!"

"They're a handful, aren't they?" Asuna said, coming from our side and sitting herself down beside me and Kazuto

"Definitely" Kazuto said with a small chuckle

"So we'll be teaming up with Knights of Blood and Divine Dragon Alliance?"

"Yeah! Something wrong about it? We should aim high! First we only need to catch up to Kirito and the others at level 30!"

To that, the three of us looked to our respective levels in our status bar

 _Level: 51_

We didn't say anything, but for the three of us, a small pang of guilt clutched our hearts.

 _ **-/-**_

"I have some news for you all!" Keita called out happily to us, as we made ourselves comfortable in our improvised meeting room- just a Inn room, with bunk beds "Including the spoils of our last raid, We've finally accumulated 500.000 Col!"

"Incredible! Soon we can buy a nice and large guild house!"

"Dibs on the suite!"

"Damn it!"

"Maybe we can get Sachi some new equipment?" Sasamaru suggested

"No, I'm fine with what I have now" Sachi replied, with a small smile

"Don't be so reserved" He called out "We can't have Kirito and Asuna be the vanguards forever, and bows are too complicated to use, it's a wonder how Sinon can use them so easily"

"We actually don't mind, really" Asuna said, as Kazuto nodded "We can be vanguards for as long as it is needed"

"Sorry, Kirito, Asuna; Sachi, I know it's hard switching roles, but you've almost got it, I know it, let's all do our best!"

"Y-Yeah..." Sachi replied, looking down

 _ **-/-**_

"Man, that was tiring..." Asuna said, stretching her arms behing her back, yawning, as the three of us stepped out of the teleport altar

"I thought you would have gotten used to it already" Kazuto said, chuckling

"Well, I'm not the grinding addict, weren't you the ones that stood up all night back in the beta to grind up levels?"

"Well... We might be a little intense sometimes"

A little intense was a understatement, no further words needed.

"We need to keep up with grinding" I decided to say just then "We'll have to return to the frontlines someday, and tell them the truth, I know that the time we spent with them has been very nice, but we can't neglect our duties with everyone and lag behind"

"Good point"

We took a few more steps before Kazuto stopped, and opened his message menu.

"Who is it?"

"Keita" Kazuto replied, and his eyes widened slightly "They said that Sachi is missing"

We looked worriedly at eachother

"I'll check out the town, she can't have gone too far" Asuna said, before she rushed off

"I think I have an idea where she might be" Kazuto said quietly "I hope I am wrong" Then he ran off too.

I sighed deeply, then opened my skill menu, and activated a skill I'd learnt not a long time ago.

"Sachi... What are you up to?"

And, mimicking the actions of my partners, ran off too, as a trail of green footsteps got in my field of view

"Gotcha"

 _ **-/-**_

I looked down beneath a small bridge, over a canal, as a lonely figure sat down beneath its shadow, hugging her knees tightly, I quietly jumped down and walked towards her until she was within earshot

"Sachi?" I said quietly, before she turned to me startled.

"Oh, Sinon-san, it's just you"

"What are you doing here all by yourself? Everyone is worried about you" I said calmly before I sat down to the side

"Hey, Sinon-san... Lets run away"

I looked over her with a confused face, what did she mean with that?

"Run away? Where to?"

She sighed as she looked up and off, staring blankly at nothingness

"Lets run away from this city... the monsters..."

I gave her a small look, was she about to say what i think she was?

"the Black Cats... and Sword Art Online"

"Are you just going to... _give up..._ like that...?"

The girl made a confused sound, looking up to me with tired eyes.

"You're afraid of dying, aren't you?" I said, before I stood up and sat beside her, looking closely at her expression, she looked so pained and unsure, and I couldn't help but sigh once again.

"I kind of know how you feel" I said, looking at her in the eyes "Just the thought that if we are not strong enough, everyone can die... it almost drives me insane sometimes... I've considered giving up too."

"Sinon-san?"

"The truth is, I'm afraid of death, I'm terrified of just thinking of it" I said, shivering, a few bad memories rushing back into my mind.

"Say, Sinon-san, What's the point of it? Why are our lives at stake if it's only a game?"

I inhaled deeply, also looking off to nothingness, I had no answer for that question

We stood silently side by side for a few minutes, watching the fake stars twinkle in the distance

"I don't know, Honestly" I admitted "Maybe there is no point to it, I guess we'll only ever find out if we clear the game"

We stood silent for a few more minutes, before the girl spoke again

"You're right, Sinon... I am afraid of dying" She said, looking down and hugging her knees tighter "So afraid that I haven't been able to sleep lately..."

"You won't die"

Both of us snapped our heads to the side, eyes widening slightly, as a black-clad figure made its way towards us

"K...Kirito-kun?"

"The Black Cats are not weak, You got me along with Tetsuo, so you don't need to fight as a Vanguard"

A few moments passed, and the girl spoke again "Are you sure I will survive?"

He gave her a bright smile; "Yes" He then walked over to us, sitting between the two of us

"Sachi, There is no need for you to be afraid" He looked confidently at her "The day this game started, I made a promise to Shino"

 _'Listen, Shino, I will not let anything hurt you, I will protect you, And we'll make it out of here, Okay?'_

"So today I'm extending that promise to you" He continued with a bright smile in his face "I'll keep fighting, day after day, so that everyone can make it out safely out of here, I swear it on my life"

That reassured not only Sachi, as it did me.

If there was someone that could get that effect of pretty much anyone, it had to be Kazuto.

 _ **-/-**_

"We were worried sick about you! Who knows what could've happened while you were out alone?" Asuna said, Scolding the girl

"Sorry"

"Well, we're relieved having you back, Sachi, Just please don't scare us like that anymore, okay?" Keita continued, smiling to the girl

"Sorry... Won't happen again."

"Anyways! I didn't ever think it would be so exciting finally buying a House!" Sasamaru exclaimed excitedly

"Geez! That's what an old man would say!" Ducker replied, punching him in the shoulder

"Don't be like that, you" Keita said, Stepping into the teleportation altar "I'll be back soon; Teleport to Starting Town!"

And then he was gone.

"Hey, let's go make some money while Keita is busy buying the house!" Tetsuo suggested

"Oh, for furniture?" Sachi replied from the edge of the group, with a smile on her face

"Yeah! let's go to one of the upper dungeons!" Ducker replied excitedly, and a chill went up my spine.

"Um... Wouldn't one of our usual hunting spots be more efficient?" Kazuto decided to say

"I'm with Kirito" I said, raising my hand, and Asuna nodded with us

"But one of the higher dungeons would be more efficient" Sasamaru said

"Yeah, At our levels, we can take on anything" Ducker continued, looking back to us

Kazuto and I shared a worried glance

"Anyways, guys!" Asuna exclaimed, breaking the tension, in a much more cheerful tone than she usually had "I guess I'll stay back at the Inn and make a feast, I've been leveling my Cooking skill, so I wanted to make something special for today!" She then turned to Sachi "And I think she's still a bit winded from yesterday, so I'm taking her with me, it'll be for the best"

"Are you sure? Shouldn't the entire group go?" Sachi said, looking worriedly over the group

"We'll manage!" Ducker said cheerfully "After all, With Kirito and Sinon there, nothing could go wrong"

Something in the back of my mind disagreed with that thought.

 _ **-/-**_

"See, I told you we'd be fine!" Tetsuo exclaimed happily as we strode through the halls of the 27th floor's dungeon, Which resembled a Sci-fi setting of sorts, with cold blue lighting and paneled walls "Oh, What's that?"

Ducker sprinted up to a wall that had a slightly different detail, and a few blue squares, the panel faded into nothingness as a hidden door opened, revealing way into a large room with a chest in the middle

"Sweet! Treasure chest!" Ducker said, rushing to the chest

' _A Treasure chest... all the way here? wait a moment..._ '

"Stop! Don't open the chest-"

It was too late, the door slamming shut behind us, as the previously blue room now shone an ominous red, some panels disappearing, revealing Dark Dwarf Miners and Granite Elementals as they started flooding the room.

"We got this!"

The started slashing at the monsters, but to no avail, as we were slowly back-to-back in the center of the room

"What!? these monsters are scaled to level 50!" Tetsuo exclaimed as the monsters slowly surrounded us, leaving no chance to escape.

"We're only in a level 37 floor!"

 _'This is bad, Very bad...'_

There was no way out of that room

 _'If we can't hold our own...'_

The monsters attacked, and we held them back, As I quickly fired arrows out of my quiver, killing the Dwarf miners with a single arrow each.

 _'They'll all die!'_

"Ducker!"

I looked to the side to see him being knocked away by a dwarf miner, He cried out in pain, as the dwarf miners began rapidly hitting him with his pickaxes, each hit making him cry out in agony and terror, and then he was gone.

' _Please no...'_

We kept fighting, but soon Tetsuo was hit in the back by one of the elementals, and then he faded away too.

 _'Please...!_ '

Sasamaru cried out in rage, and went out in a rampage, slashing madly at the monsters, however, he did nothing but barely damage them. He was slashed by the dwarves and cried out in pain, and was thrown to the floor; The next moment, He was gone too.

"NO!" I Yelled out, Pulling arrow after arrow after arrow, Shooting madly at the enemies

How could this have happened?

They trusted us!

If it had not been for us...

 _ **-/-**_

 _"...W-What?"_

 _"Keita... We're really sorry..."_

 _"Shut up!... You... Liars like you... Don't have the right to be with us!"_

 _"We tried to warn them! But... It was too late..."_

 _"It's your fault! If you hadn't lied to us... Maybe they could still be alive!"_

 _"Sachi is back at the inn with Asuna! We're sorry... Let's just... go there and talk, please?"_

 _"I don't care! I thought that if we trusted you, We'd be able to get there! That we would be able to fight for everyone! But instead you killed them, All of them!"_

 _And then he climbed the railing, and before we could do anything, He'd jumped off._

The walk back home was most agonizing, What were we going to tell them?

I walked slowly behind Kazuto, looking down as tears freely left my eyes, The door of the inn stood in front of us, somehow the bright aura of the town now seemed so oppressive.

Kazuto hesitantly turned the doorknob, and pushed the door open, we made our way in to the back, were a large table full of food was set up.

"Kirito! Sinon! You're ba-... What happened?" Asuna said, as she returned from the kitchen area, she set down whatever she had in her hands and walked worriedly over to us

"Where is everyone else?" She said, and to that, both Kazuto and I flinched, Asuna understood immediately, and sat down with hands over her mouth, looking with terrified eyes to us

"And Keita...?"

Kazuto shook his head slowly, and Asuna gasped.

"So you mean that..."

"Hey there! You're back!" Sachi said cheerily as she brought a jug of some kind of drink to the table, as she sat herself down in the other end "Where is Keita? I thought he would be back by now... Where is everyone else, By the way? Weren't they with you?"

It took her a while, but it seemed as if she finally realized the silent and cold aura that we exuded.

"...Guys? What happened?"

Kazuto sighed and placed his hands in his head, propping it up with his elbows in the table.

"Sachi; We're sorry, we're so sorry..." I tried to say, my voice faltering

"...What do you mean? Is this some kind of joke? It isn't funny" The girl slowly started to turn from happy into utterly terrified, as she brought her hands together in her chest.

"Sachi... They're... They're all..." I couldn't find my words anymore, as I just sobbed uncontrollably in my hands as she watched me with a dreadful expression.

"They died" Kazuto said once and for all; Soon everything went quiet.

"Huh? Do you mean-..." She gasped and held her hands to her mouth, her eyes widening as tears now rimmed her eyes "No... You don't mean... They're... It can't be... No... No, No! NO!"

And then I heard it, the most agonizing, pained scream I'd ever heard in my life, as she started crying uncontrollably, Asuna trying to console her, but to no avail.

Things were going so nicely; Why did they have to turn out this way?

' _Sachi, I'm so sorry... I wasn't strong enough_ '

 _ **-/-**_

 _ **Fixed a writing mistake back at chapter 6, Don't worry much about it, Thanks for pointing it out.**_

 _ **Thanks for reading, Leave a review if you enjoyed.**_


	10. The Silver-Clad Giant

_**Disclaimer: I do not own Sword Art Online**_

 _ **-/-**_

I stood stiffly, bow in a death grip, staring ahead onto the large and ominous gate with scrutinizing - albeit somewhat fearful - eyes.

"Kazuto..."

"I know."

This gate brought back memories, of a time when we weren't locked away in this death game - memories which were by now blurred away and filled with grey discontent. It has been about three months, give or take a few days since the... incident. I am not even counting time anymore, it simply doesn't matter any longer. I try not to think about it.

Even still, things had changed. The people I knew were no longer the same, the players which in the beginning were scared, yet had some semblance of hope, were now all dulled out, all but the strongest and most stubborn stood in the front lines, the rest lied in shadows, back at the start.

Sachi had grown colder for one - She has conviction, an absurd amount of it, I doubt she would give up willingly, but yet, she is completely emotionless. I see her face stuck in a dead emotion, I look over my shoulder, she stands straight in a battle-ready pose, holding a shield as large as her in one hand, and a lance almost as twice as tall her, a set of heavy armor covers her completely, her eyes barely visible through the thin slit in her helmet.

Asuna, similarly, had turned a dark path, she used to be quiet and anti-social, but she had opened so much to us and everyone else, but now, the only people she even dared speak a word to were us. One could feel the constant hostility and hatred that seeped out of her, and every conflict, she ended it the same way - quickly, seamlessly, efficiently. Coldly.

Kirito, however, while also more reserved, he was the one that held up everyone together - he was our pillar. Without him, we would fall apart. He was our leader, and above all, he was the one which once inside a battlefield, became a creature so hell-bent in destroying his opponents that nothing could stand in his path. He was always in front of everyone, imposing his authority, planning ahead and leading us to victory.

And of course, there was me.

My style and choice of apparel didn't change much, I wore a light leather armor with a cloak on top. I'd replaced my bow for a higher-leveled one, which, while particularly slow to draw, was still as agile and deadly as all the other ranged weapons.

There were so many thoughts wandering inside my mind, the ones which weren't self destructive or cynical criticism, were of how pathetic I was -

' _You couldn't save them, You betrayed them. It is_ your _fault_ '

My hand tightened its grip, and I made a low whimper that could easily be confused with a growl.

It was _my_ fault, I knew it, But I couldn't even _think about it_ and they would rush back - and I would just _remember_ and then came their _screams_ and then they would just _disappear_ and then we told Keita and he _killed himself-_

"Gah!"

The others slowly turned to me, eyes full of curiosity, as my grimace deepened and I made way to the front of the group, jumping over a rock laying nearby as a detail to the cave-themed dungeon.

I then turned back, The forms of fifty or so people looking to each other and chatting idly in the dark corridor; "Listen up!"

They all turned to me with quiet murmurs and questioning gazes, I narrowed my eyes and glared death to those who gave me weird looks - not too uncommon, considering our status.

"This is the highest boss reached in the Beta, After this, Everything is unknown" I said angrily, crossing my arms "I can't guarantee everyone is going to get out unharmed, I can't guarantee you'll even come out _alive_ " I glared to a few that dared not pay attention. "You all know what you have to do, Watch each other's back and _don't die_ "

I jumped off the rock and walked ahead, just in front of the door, as my companions stood side-by-side, We gently pushed the door, and it opened with no effort, making way to the large circular room, illuminated by a single point of light in the center, coming from a hole in the ceiling, large boulders in the corners of the room leaving a large amount of dark space and blind spots.

In the beta, getting here was much easier; In the beta, Monster health was smaller, and weapon damage was higher, overall, the game was much easier; We'd reached this same point in the last day of the beta, the sixth week- well, it was in fact me and Kazuto grinding wildly, rushing forwards, sometimes without even exploring the newer floors, since floor 20, everything that came up in the new floors was pretty much new, with the exception of the bosses and dungeons.

Floor thirty-one in the newer, deadlier Aincrad...

It was almost Christmas; It had been seven months since this started.

If it took us seven months to regain what we had beaten in the beta over the course of a month and a half, how could we even dream of reaching the hundredth floor?

We walked in on inside, the group coming together, as a few shield-wielding soldiers made their way up front, making a barricade of sorts, as a figure could slowly be made out in the shadows.

We stood quietly as a low growling sound could be heard, the figure in the shadow slowly rose, and walked up to us.

This figure was very familiar to me, after all, Muxmalog, The Giant Champion, was the one who finally ended my spree back in the beta.

It let out a mighty roar holding up his two-handed battleaxe, stomping ahead and into the light, his bright silver armor contrasted wildly against the dark walls of the dungeon, and the shine slightly stunned the ones who looked too directly.

The huge monster swung his axe back;

I grinned and jumped off, And before any eyes could make it out, I was one with the shadows.

 _ **-/-**_

It had been almost a hour now, Out of the now-counted fifty three players that entered the dungeon, fourteen now were dead, others were slowly succumbing to their fatigue and the agony of seeing their friends being slain.

We only lost three people in the last floor, this was ludicrous.

I watched as the beast's health bar slowly diminished, Muxmalog was definitely a tough nut to crack, if his high health already wasn't enough, his armor blocked out most damage.

Thankfully, We'd already made it to its last health bar, the giant now showed some level of exertion, pieces of its armor falling apart, and several cuts across his body.

 _'Soon he's going to let out that roar and everyone is going to get the Dread effect..._ '

Surely enough, he stopped for a moment, and roared loudly- however, he also raised his battleaxe high up above him - " _this wasn't in the beta" -_ I panicked some and looked back to my group, Kazuto looked like he had the same conclusion as me; and in a split second he quickly jumped back, dragging Sachi and Asuna with him, The beast swung his weapon down with its flat side, slamming it against the ground, as a wave of dust and wind rose, knocking away all other players, as they flew and crashed violently against the rocks.

A few of them died just then and there- the impact being too much for the already damaged players, I grimaced a bit, and saw as Kazuto and the others tumbling, Kazuto found his footing and quickly stood back up.

I looked around - the other players weren't getting up, they looked unconscious.

Asuna and Sachi continued tumbling for some more, they also did not get up again, a small icon appeared besides their health bars in my HUD

' _Knocked Out'_

My heart sped up, my breath getting ragged, I picked a arrow from the quiver in my back and drew it on the bow; I looked back to the monster, as it looked menacingly to the one non-affected player, Kazuto, and prepared to slash.

"Kirito! Watch out!" I said, As I released my grip on the arrow, as the string shone a bright red "«Piercing Shot»!" The arrow flew precise, piercing the left eye of the iron-clad giant that stood in front of us, as it let out a roar of anguish

"Thanks Sinon!" He yelled back, before he pivoted on his feet and lunged at the monster "«Horizontal»!" And then he slashed with his blade, entirely removing the monster's left hand from his body, leaving a red stump in its place, as the hand itself popped away in a burst of red polygons.

The monster let out a mighty roar that made my ears ring, as I felt the slight debuff of the 'Dread' status affect me, We finally beat it to its critical health, his last few hitpoints.

The Giant monster looked straight at me with angered eyes, raising his weapon with his unharmed right hand.

This was just like last time.

Me, Kazuto, A terribly strong boss.

He lunged at me and the world turned slow motion, I heard Kirito yelling to me, and while I couldn't make out what he was saying, I remembered exactly.

Kazuto rushed madly at me, the weapon slowly making its way to me, and much like last time, Kazuto wouldn't be able to make it in time.

The monster was so close now.

Last time when it hit me, I couldn't feel the pain, how much would it hurt to be hit by it now?

I dodged its first swing, the weapon swooshing in front of my face, leaving me disorientated, the monster twirled and turned, and slashed me with his axe once more, the world got even slower, as I washed the weapon slowly approach to end my life.

In the last few milliseconds I had left before the weapon reached me, I decided to do something.

So I jumped.

The axe swooshed down from my side, passing just below my feet as it embedded in the wall, I landed in the monster's arm as he tried to swat me away with his stump; I rushed up his arm and leaped in his shoulder, and continued rushing towards his head; Once again, I drew an arrow, pulling strongly against the string until it shone purple;

The monster twirled wildly, its code being probably confused by the unforeseen circumstances, I jumped once more, looking down to him, he stopped and looked up to me with angry eyes.

"Game over." I released the arrow, it flew with absurd speeds, leaving a black trail behind its path, The arrow tore through his entire body, until it came to a halt in the ground, as it pierced the huge monster the entire way through, «Power Shot».

I landed to the side, tumbling some, eventually stopping near Kazuto and the others, as he looked me with disbelieving eyes.

The monster then shattered into thousands of polygons, the players all started waking up again as loot windows popped up for everyone.

"Sinon..."

I looked over to Kazuto, as he stared at me with wide eyes, He then broke out of his stupor and tackled me in a hug.

"That was great."

 _ **-/-**_

 **This somewhat marks the end of a Arc, I guess.**

 **Thanks for reading, leave a review if you enjoyed, And sorry for the unannounced delay.**


End file.
